An examination of the importance of oral experience as reflected in literature, Word of Mouth extends psychoanalytic theory as forwarded by Freud, Karl Abraham, Melanie Klein, and Julia Kristeva. The meaning of oral experience is explored with reference to several texts, looking at the oral bond between mother and child in Proust and questions of disordered eating, raised by aggressive orality, found in Conrad's Heart of Darkness . Throughout, the author draws forth the myriad expressions relating the desires and dramas of the mouth, its pervasive pleasures and its dreads.