Introduction

This chapter presents Meschonnic’s intellectual pathway, situating his theory in its time and French environment. It explains the relationship between linguistics and literary studies and Meschonnics stance in the French debates starting in the 1960s, also pointing at Meschonnic being a distinguished poet himself. Meschonnic saw the flaws of linguistic structuralism and expanded the field. The second part of the introduction offers insights into Meschonnic’s biography and the development of his theory and career pathway, illuminating some of the grand original themes running through Meschonnic’s work and the originality of his thinking.