Description
This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Paul de Man documenting his career as a scholar and literary
theorist in the field of comparative literature, and as an academic in the United States. Files primarily contain his manuscripts
and typescripts related to literary criticism, rhetoric, and critical theory, and reflect his general interests in Romanticism.
In particular, materials document his approach to literary texts that became known as deconstruction. His works focus on writers
and philosophers such as Hegel, Hölderlin, Mallarmé, Nietzsche, Rousseau, Wordsworth, and Yeats. The collection also contains
published and unpublished writings, student papers, notes, teaching notebooks, and related materials.
Background
Paul de Man 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 de Man is provided, followed by a more detailed chronology of significant events and periods in
de Man's career.
Extent
11.8 Linear Feet
(25 boxes)
Restrictions
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Availability
The collection is open for research. Access to student record material is restricted for 75 years from the latest date of
the materials in those files. Restrictions are noted at the file level.