This podcast delves into Julia Kristeva's Revolution in Poetic Language, touching on topics such as semiotics, the mother as phallus, signification, the defensive aspect of the signifier, retouralization, the connection between poetry and music, the mother as mediator, signifying's repression by capitalism, and Kristeva's theory of language.
Poetry challenges dominant ideologies and disrupts the logic of the social order.
Drives inform the semiotic aspect of language, contributing to meaning and signification.
Revolutionary poetry exposes the arbitrary nature of language and breaks down its fixed structures.
Deep dives
Revolution in Poetic Language by Julia Kristeva
This podcast episode explores Julia Kristeva's work on revolution in poetic language. She discusses the significance of poetry in challenging the dominant ideologies and disrupting the logic of the social order. Kristeva emphasizes the importance of the semiotic, the effective material dimension of language that contributes to meaning and signification. She argues for the dynamic and processual nature of the subject, which is continuously being created and dismantled through the practice of signifying. She also highlights the risks of poetry becoming narcissistic or falling into illusion or fantasy. Ultimately, she sees poetry as a catalyst for dismantling and recreating meaning, challenging the established order, and creating revolutionary possibilities.
The Role of Drives in Poetic Language
Julia Kristeva's work explores the role of drives in poetic language. She argues that the drives, as sources of mental stimulus, inform the semiotic aspect of language, which contributes to meaning and signification beyond the symbolic realm. Kristeva sees the eruption of drives through language as a revolutionary force, disrupting the ossified structures of signification. She points to the risks of poetry becoming self-satisfied or falling into illusion, emphasizing the processual nature of revolutionary poetry that continually challenges the dominant ideologies and expands the limits of language.
The Semiotic and the Symbolic in Poetry
In her exploration of revolution in poetic language, Julia Kristeva highlights the significance of the semiotic and the symbolic in poetry. She argues that the semiotic is the effective material dimension of language, connected to the drives and their creative process of meaning-making. The symbolic, on the other hand, is the socio-historical system of meaning that structures language. Kristeva sees the eruption of the semiotic through poetry as a disruptive force that challenges the dominant ideologies and dismantles the symbolic order. She emphasizes the importance of poetry in exposing the arbitrary nature of language and breaking down its fixed structures.
The Risks and Challenges of Revolutionary Poetry
Julia Kristeva's work on revolution in poetic language explores the risks and challenges faced by revolutionary poetry. She warns against the dangers of poetry becoming self-satisfied or falling into illusion, as well as the potential for it to reinforce dominant ideologies. Kristeva emphasizes the need for ongoing dismantling and remandling of established meaning structures, and highlights the importance of the processual nature of revolutionary poetry in challenging the social order and expanding the possibilities of language.
The Maternal Function and the Role of the Mother
The podcast episode explores the concept of the mirror stage and the role of the mother in a child's development. It discusses how the infant becomes aware of its own otherness and the ongoing negotiation of this process in the crucial early months. The mother is portrayed as the phallus and the necessary sustenance link for the child, particularly during the weaning process. The podcast emphasizes the importance of the mother as the first other encountered by the child, shaping social relations and playing a significant role in the child's life.
Critique of Linguistics and the Role of Signifying
The podcast delves into Kristeva's critique of linguistics and its treatment of language as a structure rather than a dynamic, meaning-making practice. It highlights the significance of signifying as an ongoing process of producing meaning and the potential repression of this process by capitalism. The discussion also touches on the role of theorists and theorists' potential to either empower or co-opt revolutionary forces. Kristeva's exploration of negativity as the fourth term in the dialectic is seen as a corrective to Hegel's teleological progression and emphasizes the importance of incorporating the productive dissolution inherent in negativity. The podcast acknowledges the complexity of Kristeva's relationship with both art and theory and their potential to either subvert or perpetuate dominant ideologies.
This week Taylor and Coop investigate Julia Kristeva's Revolution in Poetic Language. Topics include semiotics/semiosis, the mother as phallus and much more.
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