Chapter 3, Subversive Bodily Acts, Section I, The Body Politics of Julia Kristeva Summary and Analysis

Kristeva has a theory of the 'semiotic' aspect of language. At first, it appears to be a sympathetic critique of Lacan. But she challenges Lacan's view that cultural meaning needs the relationship of the woman to the maternal body to be repressed. Butler, however, is skeptical over her strategy of subversion. She takes issue with various steps in Kristeva's argument for the 'semiotic' as a source of 'effective subversion.' Her theory appears to be self-defeating and supposing her theory of primary drives is correct, it's not clear how they can serve subversive puporses.

Kristeva argues that the is a valid idea of free energy that shows itself in language through poetry. She understands the semiotic in psychoanalytic terms...