Saussure's life and career

This chapter traces the education, intellectual development and professional career of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), the founder of modern linguistics. It begins with his background as the member of a family of Geneva scientists, and looks at how his interest in language was sparked by reading a book written by an older relative, who became his mentor; and considers too how his secondary education formed the basis for some of the ideas for which is most renowned. His unusual university career saw him publish a ground-breaking book shortly after his 21st birthday -- a book which he did not submit for a degree, and which caused some friction with his lecturers, the impact of which would endure. After 10 years lecturing in Paris he returned to his native Geneva where he professed for the remaining 20 years of his life, starting numerous book projects, none of which he completed. His lectures in general linguistics so inspired his students that, when he died at age 55, a project was undertaken to write a book based on the course he gave, using his students' notes and the relatively few of his own that could be found. The posthumous book, the Course in General Linguistics, became the founding document of modern linguistics, semiotics and structuralism.