ABSTRACT
My central claim is that the archaic encompasses three distinct meanings or “figures”. It stands for: a) backwardness or primitiveness; b) a source of originary strength and vitality; and c) that which precedes discourse and signification. The game of the archaic unfolds as a complex negotiation among these three figures. In this chapter, I will analyse certain discourses that played a significant role in establishing the “archaic” as a discursive formation, foremost those by Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche. The analysis has multiple objectives. First, it seeks to uncover the sources of discursive “authority” ascribed to the archaic. Second, it examines the position attributed to the South Slavic space by this authority. Finally, it aims to determine the precise meaning and function of each “figure”. For this purpose, I will also examine representations of modernity against which the archaic is contrasted.
