Saussure, Freud, Marx on Literary Criticism

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the approaches to literary criticism of Saussure, a linguist, Freud, a psychoanalyst and Marx, an economist.

From the Paper:

"Saussure defies the popular notion that language is a process of giving names to ideas we already have (963). In other words, there are no ideas without words. Many people believe that ideas came first, then the concept of language. However, how can an idea exist if there is no way for it to be expressed? It would not be an idea, but rather, a subconscious thought that would be meaningless. For example, a baby does not have the power of language nor can he express his thoughts. He can cry when he is hungry, but it does not necessarily result from his hunger. The baby cannot distinguish between hunger and any other feeling. "There are no pre-existing ideas, and nothing is distinct before the appearance of language" (Saussure 967). The baby cannot comprehend hunger, for he does not have a name to express it with. "

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