The Fate of Meaning: Charles Peirce, Structuralism, and Literature

John K. Sheriff

Published by Princeton University Press 1989

The Fate of Meaning

Charles Peirce, Structuralism, and Literature

John K. Sheriff

Volume 963 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400859979

Overview
Contents

About this book

This succinct and lucid study examines the thought of the philosopher Charles Peirce as it applies to literary theory and shows that his concept of the sign can give us a fresh understanding of literary art and criticism. John Sheriff analyzes the treatment of determinate meaning and contends that as long as we cling to a notion of language that begins with Saussure's dyadic definition of signs, meaning cannot be treated as such any more than can essence or presence. Asserting that Peirce's less familiar position offers a way out of this difficulty, Sheriff first discusses the Saussurean-based theory of meaning and then argues for the advantages of the radically different triadic theory developed by Peirce.

Part One of the work reviews and critiques the treatment of meaning in works by Jonathan Culler, Tzvetan Todorov, Stanley Fish, Roland Barthes, and Jacques Derrida, among others. The focus of this section is on the treatment of meaning in structural and post-structural theories and their common basis in Saussurean linguistics. Part Two provides a readable introduction to Peirce's general theory of signs and develops comprehensively the implications of his semiotic. The substitution of his theory for Saussure's opens our eyes to new and cogent answers to many questions relevant to the meaning of texts.

Originally published in 1989.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Part One. The Fate of Meaning in Structuralist Literary Theory
One. Beginning With Saussure: The Sentence-Text Analogy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Two. The Reader/Text as Indeterminate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Three. Meaning Endlessly Deferred Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
Part Two. Meaning is a Triadic Relation
Four. Starting Over: Pence's Theory of Signs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Five. Art: Meaning as a Sign of Possibility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
Six. Criticism: Meaning as a Sign of Fact Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
Seven. Theory: Meaning as a Sign of Reason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143

(Deutsch)