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Julia Kristeva
Major Concepts
The
System and the Speaking Subject
Major Concepts, Key Terms and Two Examples
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1. Her attempt
to bring the body back into discourses in the human sciences;
2. Her focus on the significance of the
maternal and preoedipal in the constitution of subjectivity;
3. Her
revision of contemporary linguistics which focused on the
communicative function of language (e.g. generative grammar, speech acts).
à genotext
the bodily drive as it is discharged in signification. The semiotic is associated with the rhythms, tones, and movement of signifying practices. As the discharge of drives, it is also associated with the maternal body, the first source of rhythms, tones, and movements for every human being since we all have resided in that body.
•The emergence of
the semiotic in the symbolic, or the genotext in the phenotext.
•E.g. rhythm,
ambiguity and over-symbolicity, the switches and multiplicity of
locutionary position.
•element of
signification is associated with the grammar and structure of
signification. The symbolic element is what makes reference possible.
•Without the
symbolic, all signification would be babble or delirium. But, without the
semiotic, all signification would be empty and have no importance for our
lives. Ultimately, signification requires both the semiotic and symbolic;
there is no signification without some combination of both. (source)
Pollock, Jackson Blue
Poles: Number 11, 1952-- Kristeva's example of "the semiotic"
(image source & interpretation of this painting: |
General Introduction:
Definitions:
Julia Kristeva: A comprehensive introduction to main themes of Kristeva's work
Major Sites:
Paper:
A Graduate thesis abstract: The Significance of the Body in Ethical Discourse: Julia Kristeva's Contribution to Moral Theology.
