Eternal Youth and the Myth of Deconstruction: An Archetypal Reading of Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler

This course is based on the book Eternal Youth and the Myth of Deconstruction: An Archetypal Reading of Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler. The Eternal Youth is a figure well known to Jungians. In myth and literature this figure takes the form of a boy or girl who refuses to grow up, like Peter Pan, or simply dies young, like Icarus. Deconstruction is a method of philosophical and literary analysis originated by Jacques Derrida and a driving force behind much postmodernist thought, including that of Judith Butler. This course uses one of Carl Jung’s core interpretive principles – amplification – to draw parallels between the two—between the mythic figure and the philosophical method. In the process, it demonstrates that the thematic content of deconstruction bears a striking resemblance to that of the eternal youth: Both are deeply concerned with questions of time, displacement, representation, authority, limits, structure, and play. The course applies depth psychological concepts like dissociation, archetypal possession, amplification, and projection to offer an innovative interpretation and critique of a philosophical orientation that continues to have a powerful influence over both academia and the broader culture.