The current paper is to build a theory of emotion, which can be utilized for exploring the emotion of anxiety, and attempts to disclose possibilities of investigating literary communication of anxiety. In this paper, fear and anxiety is first to be distinguished as two different concepts: the former aims at a concrete object, while the latter refers to the absence of an object. The differentiation and evolution process of this distinction is therefore the main issue that will be further debated in the following text. One then will be demonstrated that the semantics of fear and anxiety did not distinguish themselves until the coming of modern times; they shared together the signifier of Angst. This undifferentiated state arose primarily from a general assumption of sacred nature, which was shaped to be opposed to the inferior human emotions. During the secularization in Western Europe, individuals were revalued and raised to a higher level and consequently formulated themselves as subject in their own reflection. However, since the letterpress printing, which served as the leading medium at that time, was unable to provide the last guarantee for the discernment of individuals, the problem of identity arose and phantoms became the main role playing in texts. Fear rose to be one of the fundamental scenes of the inner world. In contrast, along with the development of recording media such as photography and movie since the 19th century, people were equipped with a strong power of questing for others' and even their own traces according to icons. In this period of time, the thing (operation) is present, while the narrative (self-description) is absent, wherefore anxiety arises in the gulf between the thing and the narrative.