In the inevitable comparisons between philosophy and literature, the lat­ ter often ends up in the secondary and subordinate position: as the field where philosophical concepts are “ illustrated,” as the diluted and popular­ ized handmaiden of “ pure reason.” Freud, among others, understood, how­ ever, that literature also serves the preemptive function of a divining-rod for the issues and processes that will find what Hegel termed a “stilles A b b ild ” a quiescent image in philosophical conceptualization. In its at times disor­ derly intuitions, literature may usurp the seminal and anticipatory role in the chicken-and-egg dialogue between the two discourses.