Volochinov, Thackeray et l’enthymème

Abstract

The aim of the essay is to revive the philosophy of language of the Soviet linguist Valentin Volochinov, by revisiting his concept of the utterance as enthymeme: the meaning of an utterance is not fully determined by the linguistic system, but is dependent on its insertion in a social situation, which it refracts rather than reflects, thus giving rise to evaluations. The essay proceeds by analysing a number of such enthymemes (a grammatical example, an advertisement, a comedian’s joke), moving towards literature and a definition of a realism of form rather than content, of refraction rather than reflection, examples of which are to be found in the works of Thackeray.