This course traces the historical influence in literary criticism and theory of two of the major post-structuralist thinkers of the twentieth century. We’ll begin by reading works by Derrida and Foucault, then follow up with articles and books by those who have read the two philosophers. The “legacy” readings are organized to produce brief glimpses of queer studies (Edelman, Butler), postcolonial studies (Spivak, Said, Saussy, Stoler), feminism (Gallop, Sawicki) and literary critical strategy (de Man, Armstrong, Miller).

We’ll finish with Derrida’s The Work of Mourning, a book whose consciousness of the legacy of both Derrida and Foucault arrives via the inevitable self-othering of time.