Paul de Man

Paul de Man (1919–1983) was an American literary scholar of Belgian origin. Born in Antwerp, he emigrated to the United States during his studies and earned a doctorate at Harvard University. He subsequently taught, among other institutions, at Cornell University, the University of Zurich, and the University of Baltimore. From 1970 until his death, he was a professor of comparative literature at Yale University. He is regarded as a leading representative of the so-called Yale Critics and developed a theory of deconstruction focused on the close reading of literary texts.