Wittgenstein, Kraus, and Valery: A Paradigm for Poetic Rhyme and Reason

This book attempts to establish a paradigm for the way language works - that is, means and creates meaning - in contemporary Western poetry. The model is developed from a rereading of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s theory of language; a rereading that is complemented with Karl Kraus’s conception of language creation and Paul Valery’s theories of poetry and language. The implications of the paradigm are then explored from several perspectives: the process of writing and reading; the mechanisms of language combination; the ideational content of its crystallizations (meanings); and their materiality as linguistic objects. As a result, the paradigm allows us to understand the philosophical import of poetry as a form-of-life inextricably attached to the signifying mechanisms of language.