The Old Dualities: Deconstructing Robert Kroetsch and His Critics

By Dianne Tiefensee

In this provocative re-examination of the work of Robert Kroetsch, who has been hailed as the father of Canadian post-modernism, Dianne Tiefensee argues that Kroetsch's "deconstruction" fails to address, or even comprehend, the radical nature of Derrida's theory.

Tiefensee contends that Kroetsch and his critics have, to some degree, misunderstood the implications of Derrida's "deconstruction" and adhere to a Bloomian "misreading" which is firmly grounded in traditional philosophy. She addresses the metaphysical presuppositions that govern Kroetsch's criticism, literary theory, and novels and considers the extent to which his theoretical pronouncements have determined his critics' readings of his work, concluding that Kroetsch reaffirms the very values, conventions, and attitudes he claims to resist.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0773511911
• ISBN13: 9780773511910
• Release Date: July 1994
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Length: 240 Pages