ABSTRACT
As I described it in the last chapter, the imaginary/semiotic realm is seen as a necessary precondition for symbolic, linguistic articulation. This is one side of the dialectic that Kristeva marks out between the semiotic and the symbolic. But there is also, in Kristeva’s work, the negative side, where the semiotic or imaginary realm seems to threaten to disrupt the orderly symbolic realm. Again, we saw this in Revolution in Poetic Language. And it is a theme that continues throughout her work. It figures most prominently in her later book, Powers of Horror, originally published in 1980.
