Julia Kristeva is professor emerita of linguistics at the Université de Paris VII. A renowned psychoanalyst, philosopher, and linguist, she has written dozens of books spanning semiotics, political theory, literary criticism, gender and sex, and cultural critique, as well as several novels and autobiographical works, published in English translation by Columbia University Press. Kristeva was the inaugural recipient of the Holberg International Memorial Prize in 2004 “for innovative explorations of questions on the intersection of language, culture, and literature.”

Kristeva’s depiction of contrariety and anomaly at the heart of postmodernist theory is ingenious, provocative, and challenging.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction by Leon S. Roudiez1. The Ethics of Linguistics2. The Bounded Text3. Word, Dialogue, and Novel4. How Does One Speak to Literature?5. From One Identity to an Other6. The Father, Love, and Banishment7. The Novel as Polylogue8. Giotto's Joy9. Motherhood According to Giovanni Bellini10. Place NamesNotesIndex