Barbara Johnson is professor of French and comparative literature at Harvard University. She is author of Défigurations du langage poétique and translator of Jacques Derrida's La Dissémination.

When it is done well, deconstructive criticism can be a pleasure to read, as it is in the case of Barbara Johnson. Her discussions of the reading process... are patient, ingenious, and persuasive. -- Robert Scholes Yale Review When it is done well, deconstructive criticism can be a pleasure to read, as it is in the case of Barbara Johnson. Her discussions of the reading process... are patient, ingenious, and persuasive. -- Robert Scholes Yale Review

• Opening RemarksPart I. Sexuality and DifferenceChapter 1. The Critical Difference: BartheS/BalZacChapter 2. Allegory's Trip-Tease: The White WaterlilyPart II. Poetry and DifferenceChapter 3. Poetry and Its Double: Two invitations au voyageChapter 4. Poetry and Performative Language: Mallarme and AustinChapter 5. Poetry and Syntax: What the Gypsy KnewPart III. Difference in the ActChapter 6. Melville's Fist: The Execution of Billy BuddChapter 7. The Frame of Reference: Poe, Lacan, DerridaNotesIndex