Abstract: In its rereading of Saussure on the one hand and Derrida’s and Tokieda Motoki’s reading of Saussure on the other, Kojin Karatani’s “Written Language and Nationalism” shows a methodological awareness of the “surface reading” and how to reread classics with this method as well. Similarly, this paper interprets Karatani’s work at two levels: we not only read the discussion of Karatani but also interpret how he read Saussure on the one hand and Derrida’s and Motoki’s reading of Saussure on the other hand. In addition, Derrida’s direct response to Karatani lets us see closely the rereading of the reader, which helps to form a complete process of reading. It is in a series of rereading that Karatani criticizes important Oriental and Western theories of language. His critique is not only a critique of language, but also a critique of modernity - especially a critique of modernity based on the special historical experience in East Asia, that is, the complicated relations among Western, Japanese and Chinese languages. However, it is not a critique of universality from the perspective of particularity since Karatani tries to universalize his “Japanese issue”. “Written Language and Nationalism” demonstrates a valuable effort to recreate universality through particularity.