A Discursive Approach to Identity Deconstruction and Reconstruction—With a Particular Reference to Literary Texts ∗

It has been long held that one’s identity is a predetermined category without any likelihood to change. However, this is not the case. Adopting the discursive approach and drawing on the postmodern deconstruction theory as the theoretical framework, the current paper testifies that far from being a static entity, the identity, as a dynamic product of deconstruction and reconstruction, is always on the change. In the process of verbal communication, interlocutors are always deconstructing and reconstructing identities in accordance with the ever-changing situations. With literary texts as particular examples, this paper reveals that identity is at the same time the object of real-time discursive deconstruction and the product of real-time discursive reconstruction. It is concluded that the process of verbal communication is as a matter of fact an alternation between identity deconstruction and identity reconstruction.