Language and Power is an original contribution to both philosophy and social theory, an analysis which fundamentally alters not only their content but also what they themselves, as disciplines, are considered to be. This unique study will have a deep and lasting effect on how these subjects are taught in disciplines ranging from literary theory, language analysis, history, and philosophy, to the social sciences, art criticism, aesthetics and counter-cultural studies. Book I of this first volume is an introduction to the nature of language, and serves as a point of departure for ideal that are further developed from book to book. Book II focuses on the distinction between reality and irreality in representational language, with a particular emphasis on art as a kind of surreal language.