Julia Kristeva and semiotics

Julia Kristeva is a central figure among the French postmodern thinkers. This presentation on her thought is a part of a course on French postmodern thinkers which is given at the advanced level at Stockholm University. Julia Kristeva deeply influenced the fields of linguistics and literary theory. She particularly developed a famous distinction between the "semiotic" (pre-Oedipian phase) and the "symbolic" (Post-Oedipal phase). She also focused on the idea of abjection (rejection of things that the subject does not want to recognize).