IDENTITY OF LITERATURE: A Reply to Jacques Derrida

This is the first book of its kind which questions Derrida’s view of literature levelling all distinctions between literature and other disciplines. Setting forth those features of literature which mark it off from non-literature, the author argues that Derrida’s deconstruction is enshrined in a flawed view of language. Pleading stridently for a twofold division of language and drawing extensively on the philosophers and the linguists who support it, the author has advanced a fresh approach to literature as well as other disciplines. It is a defence of literature, and by implication, of logic and truth, in the age of deconstruction.

Rajnath, former Head, Department of English, University of Allahabad has a PhD from the University of Leeds and was a Postdoctoral Fellow and Adjunct Professor of English at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Recipient of the British Council Scholarship, ACLS-Senior Fulbright, and American Research Fellowship, he has taught at BHU, Delhi University and the University of Allahabad. Besides editing an international journal, Journal of Literary Criticism from 1984 to 2008 as its Founder Editor, he has published extensively in the area of literary theory and criticism. He has published numerous books and has also contributed to various scholarly journals.