Carlucci, Alessandro
Gramsci and Saussure: similarities and possible links
Few books from the first half of the twentieth century have exerted the same long-lasting, interdisciplinary influence as Antonio Gramscis Prison Notebooks and Ferdinand De Saussures Course in General Linguistics. The former is the work of a political leader and philosopher who is now widely appreciated by scholars in the humanities and social sciences, including several scholars in language studies; while the latter is the work of a linguist who, at least as the initiator of linguistic structuralism, has been regarded as a fundamental author and source of inspiration by many anthropologists, sociologists, social theorists, and political philosophers. Both the Course and the Notebooks were published after the authors deaths. The first edition of the Course in General Linguistics was published in 1916. Are there any links between the ideas expressed in this book and those of Gramsci, who wrote his Prison Notebooks between 1929 and 1935? Although no documentary evidence exists confirming that Gramsci read the Course, some passages from his writings bear striking resemblances to the contents of Saussures posthumous work. I shall argue that events in Gramscis life can be held responsible for these resemblances. Between 1911 and 1926, he studied linguistics at Turin University and came into contact with early Soviet cultural life, residing in Russia twice in the early 1920s. Soviet linguists were then discussing the ideas contained in the Course, and post-revolutionary cultural life was, on the whole, quite receptive towards these ideas. Therefore, it is likely that they became part of the cultural milieu which influenced the development of Gramscis thought.
Also available on the web: http://www.uniurb.it/Filosofia/isonomia/2010carlucci2.pdf (Accessed August 29, 2011)
Also available on the web: http://www.uniurb.it/Filosofia/isonomia/2010carlucci2.pdf (Accessed August 29, 2011)
| Lingua | eng |
| Nomi |
[author] Carlucci, Alessandro |
| Soggetti |
Lingua (e Linguistica)
Saussure, Ferdinand de
Language (including Linguistics)
Saussure, Ferdinand de |
