Barbara Johnson
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Barbara Ellen Johnson (October 4, 1947 – August 27, 2009) was an American
literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...
and translator, born in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. She was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature and the
Fredric Wertham Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German–American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafa ...
Professor of
Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
and
Psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...
in Society at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. Her scholarship incorporated a variety of structuralist and
poststructuralist Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of Power (social and poli ...
perspectives—including
deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...
, Lacanian
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
, and
feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or Philosophy, philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's Gender role, social roles, experiences, intere ...
—into a critical,
interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...
study of literature. As a scholar, teacher, and translator, Johnson helped make the theories of French philosopher
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
accessible to English-speaking audiences in the United States at a time when they had just begun to gain recognition in France. Accordingly, she is often associated with the " Yale School" of academic literary criticism.


Early life

Barbara Johnson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the only daughter of Gilbert and Priscilla (James) Johnson. She graduated from Westwood High School in 1965, attended
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
from 1965 to 1969, and completed a Ph.D. in French at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
in 1977. Her graduate studies occurred during the emergence of the " Yale School," a group of literary critics that included Johnson's thesis director, Paul de Man. The Yale School's characteristic integration of structuralist and
poststructuralist Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of Power (social and poli ...
theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
into the study of
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
became an essential feature of Johnson's approach to
criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative or positive qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the ...
. She was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
in 1985 for French Literature.


Overview of major works

In her 1990 essay, "Writing" (in ''Critical Terms for Literary Study''), Johnson outlines the importance of
theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
to analyses of
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
. She argues that the
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
of writing (''l'écriture'') is an important
philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
, and psychoanalytical concept in twentieth-century French thought. She posits French theorist
Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...
' appropriation of
Ferdinand de Saussure Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure (; ; 26 November 185722 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is wi ...
's concept of the
sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
—encompassing both a "
signifier In semiotics, signified and signifier (French language, French: ''signifié'' and ''signifiant'') are the two main components of a Sign (semiotics), sign, where ''signified'' is what the sign represents or refers to, known as the "plane of con ...
" and a "
signified In semiotics, signified and signifier ( French: ''signifié'' and ''signifiant'') are the two main components of a sign, where ''signified'' is what the sign represents or refers to, known as the "plane of content", and ''signifier'' which is ...
"—as the foundation of his theory that language is a "structure," a system of relations governed by a set of rules. Johnson then goes on to describe the central roles played by
Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
and
psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...
Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...
in destabilizing Barthes' account of the relation between signifier and signified and the "structure" of
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
. Following Derrida, Johnson argues that reading is not the task of grasping the true single meaning of a
text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory) In literary theory, a text is any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothi ...
, but of grasping its multiple meanings, which are often unstable and contradictory. This
polysemy Polysemy ( or ; ) is the capacity for a Sign (semiotics), sign (e.g. a symbol, morpheme, word, or phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several word senses. Polysemy is distinct from ''monosemy'', where a word h ...
has allowed
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and marginalized readers to enter texts at the locations where the author tries to "dominate, erase, or distort" the various "other" claims that are made through language and reassert their identities.


''The Critical Difference''

In ''The Critical Difference'' (1980), Johnson argues that any model of difference as a polarized difference "between entities (
prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...
and
poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
, man and woman,
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
and
theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
, guilt and innocence)" is necessarily founded upon "a repression of differences within entities" (pp. x-xi). In this book, Johnson explores how the unknown and the unknowable function in a text. The "unknown" to which she refers is not something concealed or distant, but a fundamental unknowability that constitutes and underlies our linguistic cognition. In one of the articles in ''The Critical Difference'', "Melville's Fist: The Execution of
Billy Budd ''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'', also known as ''Billy Budd, Foretopman'', is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed vers ...
," Johnson reads
Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...
's novel as a performance of the irreconcilability between the "
signifier In semiotics, signified and signifier (French language, French: ''signifié'' and ''signifiant'') are the two main components of a Sign (semiotics), sign, where ''signified'' is what the sign represents or refers to, known as the "plane of con ...
" and the "
signified In semiotics, signified and signifier ( French: ''signifié'' and ''signifiant'') are the two main components of a sign, where ''signified'' is what the sign represents or refers to, known as the "plane of content", and ''signifier'' which is ...
." She argues that if a description could perfectly describe its
referent A referent ( ) is a person or thing to which a name – a linguistic expression or other symbol – refers. For example, in the sentence ''Mary saw me'', the referent of the word ''Mary'' is the particular person called Mary who is being spoken o ...
and actually "hit" its intended object (just as Billy Budd hits and kills John Claggart), the result would be the annihilation of that object. Language, thus, can only function upon imperfection, instability, and unknowability.


''A World of Difference'' and ''The Feminist Difference''

Johnson's next book, ''A World of Difference'' (1987), reflects a move away from the strictly
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
ical context of her analyses in ''The Critical Difference''. Johnson wants to take her investigation beyond "the white male Euro-American literary, philosophical, psychoanalytical, and critical canon" that dominates the
academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
as a whole and her work in particular. But she also calls the "sameness" of that white Euro-American literary and critical tradition into question, undertaking a thorough interrogation of its boundaries. In addition, Johnson expands the scope of her literary subjects to include black and/or women writers, such as
Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...
, Dorothy Dinnerstein,
James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ...
, and
Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...
. Her subsequent collection, ''The Feminist Difference'' (1998), offers a continued critique of the terms in play throughout
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
's history and an examination of the differences within and between feminisms.


''The Wake of Deconstruction''

''The Wake of Deconstruction'' (1994) approaches the general state of
deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...
in light of the backlash it faced over the course of the 1980s and early '90s. Through the double lenses of Paul de Man's posthumous
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The ...
scandal and the academic community's reaction to the murder of
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
legal
theorist A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
Mary Joe Frug, Johnson discusses
allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...
,
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
, and the misinterpretation of
deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...
.


The problematics of language


The question of translation

In "Taking Fidelity Philosophically" (in ''Difference in Translation''), Johnson describes
translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...
as an ultimately impossible endeavor because the "mother" or original language is already, intrinsically untranslatable from signifier to signified. The more one attempts to translate a work into comprehensibility, the more likely one is to stray from its original ambiguity.
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
, with his thoughts on
différance is a French term coined by Jacques Derrida. Roughly speaking, the method of ''différance'' is a way to analyze how signs (words, symbols, metaphors, etc) come to have meanings. It suggests that meaning is not inherent in a sign but arises from ...
, elucidates the complicating but necessary fact of language: that it is foreign to itself. Every attempt to translate sets the language against itself, creating new tensions as it progresses.
Translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...
, though impossible, is also necessary, as it is precisely these tensions that constitute language.


Deconstruction, indeterminacy, and politics

Throughout her work, Johnson emphasizes both the difficulty of applying
deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...
to political action and of separating linguistic contradictions, complexities, and
polysemy Polysemy ( or ; ) is the capacity for a Sign (semiotics), sign (e.g. a symbol, morpheme, word, or phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several word senses. Polysemy is distinct from ''monosemy'', where a word h ...
from political questions. In ''A World of Difference'', she makes a turn to a "real world," but one which is always left in quotation marks—"real," but nonetheless inseparable from its textual, written aspect. In a chapter of the book entitled, "Is Writerliness Conservative?" Johnson examines the political implications of "undecidability" in writing, as well as the consequences of labeling the
poetic Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
and the undecidable as politically inert. She writes that, if "poetry makes nothing happen," poetry also "makes ''nothing'' happen"—the limits of the political are themselves fraught with political implications. Harold Schweizer writes in his introduction to ''The Wake of Deconstruction'' that "if interpretive closure always violates textual indeterminacy, if authority is perhaps fundamentally non-textual, reducing to identity what should remain different, Johnson's work could best be summarized as an attempt to delay the inevitable reductionist desire for meaning".


Prosopopoeia and anthropomorphism

In "Apostrophe, Animation, and Abortion" (in ''A World of Difference'') and "Anthropomorphism in Lyric and Law" (in ''Persons and Things''), Johnson discusses the recurrence of rhetorical figures of prosopopoeia (an address to a dead or absent person) and
anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
(conferring human attributes on a nonhuman entity) within contemporary disputes about
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
,
corporate personhood Corporate personhood or juridical personality is the legal notion that a juridical person such as a corporation, separately from its associated human beings (like owners, managers, or employees), has at least some of the legal rights and respon ...
, and other debates surrounding who or what qualifies as a person. "Apostrophe" juxtaposes Romantic poets such as
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...
with twentieth-century poems by
Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poet ...
, Lucille Clifton, and
Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...
that deal with women's experiences following abortion. Johnson argues that the analogy between creative writing and giving
birth Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...
, traditionally employed by male poets like Sidney and Jonson, re-appears in a distorted fashion in women's writing. Johnson's concern with prosopopoeia represents an ongoing elaboration of Paul de Man's work, extending the problems posed in his essays "Autobiography as De-Facement" and "Anthropomorphism and Trope in Lyric" (in ''The Rhetoric of Romanticism'') to
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
literature.


Death

Johnson was diagnosed with cerebellar ataxia in 2001. She continued to write and advise graduate students until her death in 2009.


Publications


Selected works

* ''Persons and Things'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008) * ''Mother Tongues: Sexuality, Trials, Motherhood, Translation'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003) * "Using People:
Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...
with Winnicott," in ''The Turn to Ethics'', ed.
Marjorie Garber Marjorie Garber (born June 11, 1944) is an American professor at Harvard University and the author of a wide variety of books, most notably ones about William Shakespeare and aspects of popular culture including Human sexuality, sexuality. Biog ...
, Beatrice Hanssen, and
Rebecca L. Walkowitz Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban t ...
(New York: Routledge, 2000) (reprinted in ''Persons and Things'') * "
Anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
in Lyric and Law," in the ''Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities'', 10 Yale J.L. & Human. 549 (Summer 1998) (reprinted in ''Persons and Things'') * "
Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
and
Intertextuality Intertextuality is the shaping of a text's meaning by another text, either through deliberate compositional strategies such as quotation, allusion, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche or parody, Gerard Genette (1997) ''Paratexts'p.18/ref ...
:
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
,
Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...
, and the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
," in ''Poetics of the Americas'', ed. Bainard Cowan and Jefferson Humphries (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997) * ''The Feminist Difference: Literature,
Psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
, Race and Gender'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998) * ''The Wake of Deconstruction'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994) * "Writing," in ''Critical Terms for Literary Study,'' ed. Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990) * ''A World of Difference'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987) * "Taking Fidelity Philosophically," in ''Difference in Translation'', ed. Joseph F. Graham (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985) * ''The Critical Difference: Essays in the Contemporary
Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
of Reading'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980) * ''Défigurations du langage poétique: La seconde révolution baudelairienne'' (Paris: Flammarion, 1979) * "The Frame of Reference: Poe, Lacan, Derrida," in ''Yale French Studies'', no. 55/56 (1977): pp. 457–505 (reprinted in ''The Purloined Poe'', 1988)


Edited volumes and projects

* ''The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism'', Principal ed., Vincent B. Leitch, with William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, John McGowan, and Jeffery J. Williams (New York: Norton, 2001) * ''Freedom and Interpretation: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures, 1992'' (New York: Basic Books, 1993) * ''Consequences of Theory: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1987-1988'', ed. with Jonathan Arac (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990) * ''A New History of French Literature,'' Principal ed., Dennis Hollier (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989) * ''Yale French Studies'', No. 63, "The Pedagogical Imperative: Teaching as a Literary Genre" (1982)


Translations

*
Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools o ...
, '' Divagations'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007) *
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
, ''Dissemination'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981) *
Philippe Sollers Philippe Sollers (; born Philippe Joyaux; 28 November 1936 – 5 May 2023) was a French writer and critic. In 1960 he founded the '' avant garde'' literary journal '' Tel Quel'' (along with writer and art critic Marcelin Pleynet), which was pu ...
, "Freud's Hand," in ''Yale French Studies'', No. 55-56 (1979) *
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
, "Fors: The Anglish Words of Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok," in the ''Georgia Review'', No. 31 (1977)


See also

*
List of deconstructionists This is a list of thinkers who have been dealt with deconstruction, a term developed by French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930–2004). __NOTOC__ The thinkers included in this list ''have Wikipedia pages'' and satisfy at least one of the thre ...


References


External links


Barbara Johnson remembered
at the Harvard University Press Blog.
Literary luminary passes away
The Harvard Crimson.
Difference: Reading with Barbara Johnson
a special issue of ''Differences'' (2007)

Barbara Johnson's memorial service
Barbara Johnson Papers
Pembroke Center Archives, Brown University {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Barbara 1947 births 2009 deaths Oberlin College alumni Yale University alumni American literary critics American women literary critics Deconstruction Harvard University faculty American feminists American women philosophers 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers 20th-century American translators 21st-century American translators 20th-century French women writers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American women