Abstract
The late work of the Hungarian émigré linguist and comparatist, Theodore Thass-Thienemann, presents a challenging combination of psychoanalytic discourse and the historical study of languages. His two-volume book entitled The Interpretation of Language (1973) sets out to complement the Freudian analysis of dream images and bodily symptoms via an investigation into the symbolism of ordinary verbal expressions as they appear in the languages of Indo-European cultures. His attention to the unconsciously inherited dimensions of particular idioms opens a path to the linguistic archeology of the human mind and a rethinking of the very notion of “idiom” in terms of “idiotism.” After providing a brief overview of the life and late works of Thass-Thienemann, this study offers a comprehensive analysis of his book. In the final analysis, Thass-Thienemann appears as the provocative thinker of a spectral inheritance, from which even his own discourse is not exempt.
Highlights
The late work of the Hungarian émigré linguist and comparatist, Theodore Thass-Thienemann, presents a challenging combination of psychoanalytic discourse and the historical study of languages
At the time of his emigration he was nearly sixty years old. He embarked upon new directions in research and started an “exploratory pilot study” that delved into the unconsciously symbolic dimensions of language (1973: 2:229), a project that combined his expertise in the history of languages and literatures with a growing interest in psychoanalysis and related modes of interpretation
Thass-Thienemann 1969), on the whole he seemed optimistic about their reception. He warmly welcomed the project of an Italian translation and decided to republish the two volumes jointly, in reverse order, as The Interpretation of Language I-II (1973), with Symbolic Behavior appearing as Volume One (Understanding the Symbolic Meaning of Language), and The Subconscious Language reissued as Volume Two (Understanding the Unconscious Meaning of Language)
Summary
The late work of the Hungarian émigré linguist and comparatist, Theodore Thass-Thienemann, presents a challenging combination of psychoanalytic discourse and the historical study of languages.
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