"It is difficult to imagine an important thinker more ideally suited to the long-running For Beginners series than Ferdinand de Saussure. Saussure's work is so powerful that it not only redefined modern linguistics, it also opened our minds to new ways of "doing" anthropology, literary criticism, and psychoanalysis. Genius like Saussure's is meant to be shared; it is shameful to confine it to the "experts." Unfortunately, unless you were a linguist, Saussure was virtually unreadable. Until now. Saussure For Beginners is a clear, accessible guide to one of the most influential and difficult thinkers of the 20th century. It is designed, both in look and language, to introduce the lay reader to the brilliant, mystifying Saussure."--