Hierarchical Structures and Phallic Symbols in Christine Brooke-Rose’s *Between*

The aim of this article is to show how in her novel *Between*, Brooke-Rose, in parallel to Derrida and other theoreticians, imaginatively deconstructs one of the main notions on which Western metaphysics is based, namely the concept of identity, and to suggest that her novel could be read as a first example of what Barthes would later call ‘the text of pleasure’ (distinguished by the complete loss of origin and identity). It is in fact by referring to some of Barthes’ central notions that my article shows how, contrary to Western philosophical tradition, Brooke-Rose suggests that language does not simply represent, but constructs Reality, and that there is no fixed identity permanently present in the individual, as identity itself is a product of language which continually shifts and changes through each linguistic act we accomplish and endure in our lives. In particular, my paper aims at showing how, as part of this first deconstructive movement, Brooke-Rose also attempts to deconstruct the concept of a feminine identity, by trying not to reverse but to abolish the hierarchy ‘masculine’ / ‘feminine’ altogether.