Derrida once said that he approved of the comic book treatments of his thought because they bypass and subvert the offical channels of knowledge proffered at universities. Powell's carnivalesque treatment of Derrida is certainly planted firmly in that groove.

This book offers something for readers who know nothing of deconstruction, but also something for those who have read a lot about it. I have read a lot of books on deconstruction, but this is the only one that shows how deconstruction has worked in different cultures--notably, China and India. Besides, it is irreverent and hilarious, at one point inserting some Derridean quotes on ethics into an ribald erotic situation. The parallels between Nagarjuna's Madhyamika Buddhism and deconstruction are fascinating.