Abstract: Julia Kristeva’s sémanalyse, which aims to overturn the over-ordering and over-motivation of traditional semiotics, focuses on the significance of text and highlights the emergence and generative process of signification. Kristeva’s semiotics has apparent and distinctive revolutionary demands, due to the indispensable role that Marxist political economics played in its theoretical construction. This paper provides an overview of the creative reading of Marxism that Kristeva used as her fundamental theoretical base that is elucidated from two perspectives. On the one hand, the overview tracks the evolution from Marx’s concepts of production and labour to Kristeva’s significance. On the other hand, how Kristeva developed her practice theory from Marx’s views on practice is discussed in detail.
Key words: Marxist political economy, Julia Kristeva, semiotics, significance, pratique signifiante