There’s no deconstruction without the memory of the tradition: I started with the tradition. If you’re not trained in the tradition, then deconstruction means nothing. It’s simply nothing.

I think that if what is called “deconstruction” produces neglect of the classical authors, the canonical texts, and so on, we should fight it. . . . I’m in favor of the canon, but I won’t stop there. I think that students should read what are considered the great texts in our tradition. . . . Students could develop, let’s say, a deconstructive practice — but only to the extent that they “know” what they are “deconstructing”: an enormous network of other questions.

I’m in favor or tradition. I’m respectful of and a lover of the tradition. There’s no deconstruction without the memory of the tradition. I couldn’t imagine what the university could be without reference to the tradition, but a tradition that is as rich as possible and that is open to other traditions, and so on. – Jacques Derrida as quoted in Deconstruction by James Faulconer