literary theory, resistance, Bakhtin, Kristeva, Marxism, structuralism, poststructuralism, теория литературы, сопротивление, Бахтин, Кристева, марксизм, структурализм, постструктурализм, Oriental languages and literatures, PJ

The article attempts to reconstruct some of the political stakes in the conceptual and methodological debates among two groups of literary critics during the 1960ies and the 1970ies in Bulgaria: the structuralists and their opponents, the so-called “Imperssionist critics”. This debate seems to be a pertinent context for addressing the emergence of poststructuralism since it was the intellectual ferment, in which Julia Kristeva formed her conceptual background, before later becoming among the first poststructuralist critics of structuralism in France. Before, emigrating, Kristeva was part of the group of the “impressionist critics”, who were developing ways of resisting official Marxist doctrine while retaining claims for Marxists legitimacy. They were very critical of the structuralists, who also were attempting to gain legitimacy, though by aligning with Marxism as a materialist science, a stance the “impressionists” viewed as contributing to alienation.