Sign, The

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

John Phillips (National University of Singapore); Chrissie Tan (National University of Singapore)
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  • The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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Even in the most naïve sense, without qualification, the term

sign

poses great difficulties. The word designates any thing, whether gesture, mark, token, symbol or even natural event, that expresses, indicates or refers to a meaning or to something else. Yet even that most general and innocent statement offers at best a futile answer, as if to a question that already presupposes it: “what does the word

sign

de

sign

ate?” The presupposition of a prior meaning infects all interpretations of the word

sign

, which is always thus figured as a latecomer, standing in for something, a thing or a concept that precedes it. But the concept

sign

, if it does refer back to a prior meaning, refers back only to itself—that which means something other than itself.

In the nineteenth century, the

1989 words

Citation: Phillips, John, Chrissie Tan. "Sign, The". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 May 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1012, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1012 Sign, The 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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