The article attempts to reconstruct
some of the political stakes in the
conceptual and methodological debates
among two groups of literary critics
during the 1960ies and the 1970ies in
Bulgaria: the structuralists and their
opponents, the so-called “Imperssionist
critics”. This debate seems to
be a pertinent context for addressing
the emergence of poststructuralism
since it was the intellectual ferment,
in which Julia Kristeva formed her
conceptual background, before later
becoming among the first poststructuralist
critics of structuralism in France.
Before, emigrating, Kristeva was part
of the group of the “impressionist
critics”, who were developing ways
of resisting official Marxist doctrine
while retaining claims for Marxists
legitimacy. They were very critical of
the structuralists, who also were attempting
to gain legitimacy, though by
aligning with Marxism as a materialist
science, a stance the “impressionists”
viewed as contributing to alienation.
