Chaos and metaphysics, modernity and postmodernity, structuralism and poststructuralism - recent history of science is characterized by the breaking of traditional patterns and a structural change in the contemplation of the world and its supposed meaningfulness. How does literary studies respond to this structural change? How does a discipline, whose discourse is rooted in the essence and value of poetic expression, position itself in the face of an increasing focus on structure and function? Deconstruction, which developed notably during the linguistic turn, is symptomatic of modern thought. It radically denies a definitive meaning and displaces the subject from its traditional place. Tanja Schäfer examines here two of the most significant representatives of deconstruction: Jacques Derrida and Paul de Man. In close alignment with the thinking of.