De Man, Paul, 1919-1983

Paul de Man (December 6, 1919 – December 21, 1983), born Paul Adolph Michel Deman,[1] was a Belgian-born literary critic and literary theorist. At the time of his death, de Man was one of the most prominent literary critics in the United States—known particularly for his importation of German and French philosophical approaches into Anglo-American literary studies and critical theory.[not verified in body] Along with Jacques Derrida, he was part of an influential critical movement that went beyond traditional interpretation of literary texts to reflect on the epistemological difficulties inherent in any textual, literary, or critical activity.[not verified in body] This approach aroused considerable opposition, which de Man attributed to "resistance" inherent in the difficult enterprise of literary interpretation itself.[2]

De Man began his teaching career in the United States at Bard College. In 1960 he completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University, then taught at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Zurich.[3] He joined the faculty in French and Comparative Literature at Yale University, where he was considered part of the Yale School of Deconstruction. At the time of his death from cancer, he was Sterling Professor of the Humanities and chairman of the Department of Comparative Literature at Yale. De Man oversaw the dissertations of Gayatri Spivak (at Cornell), Barbara Johnson (at Yale),[not verified in body] Samuel Weber (at Cornell), and many other noted scholars.

After his death, a researcher uncovered some two hundred previously unknown articles which de Man had written in his early twenties for Belgian collaborationist[1] newspapers during World War II, some of them implicitly and two explicitly anti-Semitic. These, in combination with revelations about his domestic life and financial history, caused a scandal and provoked a reconsideration of his life and work.[4]

Paul previous hit de Man next hit was a prominent and influential literary critic, scholar, and teacher best known as one of the principle theorists behind an approach to literary texts that became known as deconstruction. This approach to literary texts, which had a profound effect upon the field of literary studies, was developed throughout his career in the numerous essays that appear in the collection. A biographical overview of previous hit de Man next hit is provided, followed by a more detailed chronology of significant events and periods in previous hit de Man's next hit career.
Paul Adolph Michel previous hit de Man next hit was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on December 6, 1919. He matriculated in the Free University of Brussels in 1939 as a student of chemistry. While a student, he began a career in journalism by joining the editorial board of Cahiers du Libre Examen, a student publication that addressed social and political issues from a liberal and democratic position. When the German army invaded Belgium in May 1940, he fled to southern France, where his exodus was brought to a sudden halt when he was prevented from entering Spain.
previous hit De Man next hit returned to Brussels in August and found employment writing a cultural column for Le Soir; between December 1940 and December 1942, he wrote a total of 170 literary and cultural articles for this collaborationist newspaper. After ceasing his column for Le Soir, previous hit de Man next hit went to work for the publisher Agence Dechenne. He was fired in 1943 for aiding in the publication of Exercice du silence, an issue of the journal Messages that published the work of various writers associated with the French resistance. previous hit De Man next hit spent the rest of World War II in Antwerp, translating Moby Dick into Flemish.
At the end of the war, previous hit de Man next hit and three partners began a publishing house, Editions Hermès, dedicated to the production of fine press books about art. Immediately following the war, previous hit de Man next hit was called before the Auditeur Général and questioned about his activities during the occupation; no charges were ever filed against him. By 1948, the publishing house was experiencing financial difficulties, and previous hit de Man next hit went to New York City with the intention of establishing business contacts. He took a job at the Doubleday bookstore. Hermès collapsed in 1949, and previous hit de Man next hit remained in the United States for the rest of his life.
previous hit De Man next hit began his career as an academic in 1949, teaching French at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He entered the graduate program at Harvard University in 1952 and received his doctoral degree in Comparative Literature in 1960 with a dissertation entitled "Mallarmé, Yeats, and the Post-Romantic Predicament." While enrolled at Harvard, previous hit de Man next hit held a position as a lecturer and was a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows.
After receiving his degree, previous hit de Man next hit accepted a position at Cornell University. The beginning of this period constitutes what may be considered previous hit de Man's next hit critical phase, represented by essays such as "Mme de Staël et J.J. Rouseau." During the later years at Cornell, previous hit de Man's next hit concerns shifted to more theoretical issues and resulted in the first edition of Blindness and Insight.
In 1968, previous hit de Man next hit became a professor of Humanities at John Hopkins University. In 1970, he left Hopkins and joined the faculty at Yale University, where he spent the rest of his career. While at Yale, alongside Geoffrey Hartman, J. Hillis Miller, and Jacques Derrida, previous hit de Man next hit articulated an approach to linguistic texts that came to be known as deconstruction. Focusing primarily on works by Nietzsche and Rousseau, previous hit de Man next hit developed in Allegories of Reading a practice of rhetorical reading that provided the methodological framework for all his subsequent work.
previous hit De Man next hit spent the rest of his career simultaneously pursuing two different paths. First, he undertook an evaluation of the contemporary theoretical environment and explored why the practice of rhetorical reading was resisted so strongly. At the same time, he addressed the nineteenth-century German philosophical tradition and examined the irreducible role of linguistic materiality in the disruption of aesthetic ideologies. Neither of these projects was completed, but both were reconstructed and published posthumously as The Resistance to Theory and Aesthetic Ideology.
Paul previous hit de Man next hit died of cancer on December 21, 1983.