The papers of Hans Loewald are among the most frequently cited and least understood within the psychoanalytic literature. Part of the problem is that his prescient ideas, extraordinarily creative and often visionary, are presented in traditional terminology. This paper is intended as a contribution to the explication of Loewald's important contribution, focusing on his novel understanding of language (both the development of language in the child and the language of psychoanalysis), and his richly dialectical view of the relationship between fantasy and actuality.