ABSTRACT
Paul de Man has been one of the most influential figures in American criticism and theory since the 1960s. His death in 1983 left us an array of difficult texts, many of them still unpublished. One of the major tasks of American criticism in the future will be to interpret these essays, exploring the implications of de M an's critical and theoretical writing. This will not only entail understanding what these texts say and whya daunting assignment in itself-but especially working out their possible relationships to other contemporary critical discourses, such as psychoanalysis, feminism, and revisionist Marxisms, which have frequently engaged those versed in deconstruction but did not interest de Man.
