>> an apples/oranges thing if you compare Derrida to James Joyce. That was in part the point of my contributions to the thread. Some APPLE philosophers claim there is no ultimate signified and so language rests not only on ever-changing culture (which makes sense), but also is at any given moment subject to Lacanian play and to the game of deconstruction. However, many ORANGE literary folk know that this only makes sense to an anthropologist from outer space, that significance, even full-blown meaning, can be rescued from, or brought into existence by, the properly chosen words, artfully arranged. (For more on the dictionary controversy, see David Foster Wallace's article, "Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage.") Eric ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html