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REVIEWS

REVIEWS Ora Avni, The Resistance of Reference: Linguistics, Philosophy, and the Literary Text, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990. xiv + 313 pp. Literary theory in the twentieth Century, and particularly since the 1960s, has been influenced by developments in linguistics, especially Saussurean linguistics, which is extremely important for its contributions to structuralist and poststructuralist theories. Avni's book deals, primarily from a literary critical point of view, with the problematics inherent in different conceptions of language and its relation to the issue of reference. By analyzing at length Saussure and Frege she poses the problem: the Saussurean-structuralist approach tries to eliminate reference from the study of language, whereas the Fregean approach is grounded in reference. Saussure emphasizes the relative-functional view of language, what Avni calls "the reciprocal semantic [i.e., the "contaminations of meaning resulting from the juxtapostion of expressions in a sentence" (273 n. 5)1 "influence of the terms that make up a linguistic System" (230), whereas Frege advocates an absolute approach: language consists of "firm units having fixed senses and permanent references" (230). Her detailed analyses of Saussure and Frege focus not only on what they included in their theories but, more importantly, on what they hesitated http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Literary Semantics de Gruyter

REVIEWS

Journal of Literary Semantics , Volume 21 (3) – Jan 1, 1992
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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the
ISSN
0341-7638
eISSN
1613-3838
DOI
10.1515/jlse.1992.21.3.237
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Ora Avni, The Resistance of Reference: Linguistics, Philosophy, and the Literary Text, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990. xiv + 313 pp. Literary theory in the twentieth Century, and particularly since the 1960s, has been influenced by developments in linguistics, especially Saussurean linguistics, which is extremely important for its contributions to structuralist and poststructuralist theories. Avni's book deals, primarily from a literary critical point of view, with the problematics inherent in different conceptions of language and its relation to the issue of reference. By analyzing at length Saussure and Frege she poses the problem: the Saussurean-structuralist approach tries to eliminate reference from the study of language, whereas the Fregean approach is grounded in reference. Saussure emphasizes the relative-functional view of language, what Avni calls "the reciprocal semantic [i.e., the "contaminations of meaning resulting from the juxtapostion of expressions in a sentence" (273 n. 5)1 "influence of the terms that make up a linguistic System" (230), whereas Frege advocates an absolute approach: language consists of "firm units having fixed senses and permanent references" (230). Her detailed analyses of Saussure and Frege focus not only on what they included in their theories but, more importantly, on what they hesitated

Journal

Journal of Literary Semantics – de Gruyter

Published: Jan 1, 1992

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