The semiosphere is arguably the most influential concept developed by Juri Lotman, which has been reinterpreted in a variety of ways. This paper returns to Lotman’s original “anthropocentric” ...understanding of semiosphere as a collective intellect/consciousness and revisits the main arguments of Lotman’s discussion of human vs. nonhuman semiosis in order to position it in the modern context of cognitive semiotics and the question of human uniqueness in particular. In contrast to the majority of works that focus on symbolic consciousness and multimodal communication as specifically human traits, Lotman accentuates polyglottism and dialogicity as the unique features of human culture. Formulated in this manner, the concept of semiosphere is used as a conceptual framework for the study of human cognition as well as human cognitive evolution.
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In this introduction to the semiotic theory of one of the most innovative theorists of the twentieth century, the Russian literary scholar and semiotician Yuri Lotman, offers a new look at ...Lotman's profound legacy by conceptualizing his ideas in modern context and presenting them as a useful tool of cultural analysis. Semenenko demonstrates how Lotman's holistic theory, transcending the traditional boundaries of academic disciplines, offers a genuinely interdisciplinary approach to culture. This study covers a wide range of topics, from artificial intelligence to the role of an individual in history.
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An introduction to the theory of Russian literary scholar and semiotician Jurij Lotman.
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Aleksei Semenenko is a research fellow in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Stockholm University. He holds a PhD in Russian Literature from Stockholm University. He is the author of Hamlet the Sign: Russian Translations ofHamlet and Literary Canon Formation (2007) and other research publications in semiotics, literature, and translation.
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"Aleksei Semenenko's book The Texture of Culture is dedicated to Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman (1922-1993), one of the most original and important thinkers and cultural scholars of the twentieth century. Yuri Lotman was a figure capable of combining the history of Russian cultural theory and creating its synthetic meta-language. Lotman's theory of semiotic mechanisms of culture discusses, for example, eternal unpredictability of human mind and cultural activity. In Semenenko's contextual treatment, Lotman's cultural theory proves inspiring and applicable even in understanding today's culture and human life." - Tomi Huttunen, professor of Russian Literature, University of Helsinki
"The first book in English to clearly and accessibly elucidate the complete oeuvre of Yuri Lotman, this penetrating, masterly exposition nimbly draws upon source material from various languages and disciplines - including philosophy, cybernetics, neuroscience, linguistics, and literary theory. It maps out the continuities and the nuances of Lotman's multivalent theories, assessing them both for their own time and for the promise they hold out for future development. An important and fascinating study of culture as an external representation of the mind." - Irena R. Makaryk, University of Ottawa and general editor and compiler, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory
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A FIRST: The first comprehensive introduction to Lotman's theory that includes his last books and archive materials.
ACCESSIBLE: Addresses a broad readership and presents Lotman's semiotic theory of culture in a clear, accessible manner.
COMPREHENSIVE: Develops Lotman's unique idea of culture as a reflection of human mind and covers a wide range of topical questions, such as: Is artificial intelligence possible? What is mind and how is it related to the brain? What is meaning? What is the role of an individual in history? What is myth? Why do we have favorite texts?
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Contexts
Culture as System
Culture as Text
Semiosphere
Universal Mind
Conclusion: The World as Text
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In this introduction to the semiotic theory of one of the most innovative theorists of the twentieth century, the Russian literary scholar and semiotician Yuri Lotman, offers a new look at Lotman's profound legacy by conceptualizing his ideas in modern context and presenting them as a useful tool of cultural analysis.
RESUMO Absurdo e falta de sentido são geralmente estudados como categorias filosóficas e/ou lógicas. Este artigo examina o absurdo como um fenômeno semiótico e como parte dos mecanismos de geração de ...significado. Argumenta que o problema do absurdo e do significado como um todo é, acima de tudo, um problema textual. Esta abordagem se fundamenta no legado do semioticista e estudioso da literatura Iúri Lótman, especialmente em seus conceitos de explosão e nas noções de “não-texto” e “menos- dispositivo”. O conceito de absurdo destaca o inerente paradoxo informacional da cultura humana e de seus sistemas de comunicação, nos quais ruído, erros e contratempos não impedem a comunicação, pelo contrário, estimulam-na. Em uma escala maior, o exemplo de como as culturas humanas lidam com o “não-sentido” na comunicação tem implicações para o estudo da evolução da cultura e da linguagem humanas e também traz luz adicional ao problema metodológico da relação texto/signo.
ABSTRACT Absurdity and nonsense are usually studied as philosophical and/or logical categories. This paper examines nonsense as a semiotic phenomenon and as part of the mechanisms of meaning generation, and argues that the problem of nonsense and meaning as a whole is foremost a textual problem. This approach is based on the legacy of the semiotician and literary scholar Iurii Lotman, and especially his concepts of explosion and the notions of “non-text” and “minus-device.” The concept of nonsense thus highlights the inherent informational paradox of human culture and human communication systems, in which noise, errors and mishaps do not impede communication but on the contrary, stimulate it. On a larger scale the example of how human cultures deal with ‘non-sense’ in communication has implications for the study of the evolution of human culture and language and also draws additional light to the methodological problem of the text/sign relation.
The paper examines the history of the Soviet/Russian humorous TV show KVN (Klub veselykh i nakhodchivykh) from the 1960s to the present day, as a spectacular example of the duality of the Soviet ...cultural sphere. KVN began in 1961 as a game show featuring university teams. It quickly became a separate genre of samodeiatel’nost’ and a part of non-official culture, a place for artistic experiments, satire, and even civic engagement. Closed in 1972 after experiencing growing pressure, the show was reborn under Perestroika in 1986, becoming a hotbed of social and political satire. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, KVN grew into a movement consisting of several leagues and thousands of teams in different countries, not counting unofficial groups and competitions. Its former participants now dominate entertainment television in Russia, and the KVN show remains among the most popular entertainment programs on Channel One. At the same time, in recent years KVN has become an exemplary case of “officially approved” satire and humor and a semi-official state project that is now being used as a platform for the promotion of the “right political course”.
Absurdity and nonsense are usually studied as philosophical and/or logical categories. This paper examines nonsense as a semiotic phenomenon and as part of the mechanisms of meaning generation, and ...argues that the problem of nonsense and meaning as a whole is foremost a textual problem. This approach is based on the legacy of the semiotician and literary scholar Iurii Lotman, and especially his concepts of explosion and the notions of "non-text" and "minus-device. " The concept of nonsense thus highlights the inherent informational paradox of human culture and human communication systems, in which noise, errors and mishaps do not impede communication but on the contrary, stimulate it. On a larger scale the example of how human cultures deal with 'non-sense' in communication has implications for the study of the evolution of human culture and language and also draws additional light to the methodological problem of the text/sign relation.
Absurdo e falta de sentido são geralmente estudados como categorias filosóficas e/ou lógicas. Este artigo examina o absurdo como um fenômeno semiótico e como parte dos mecanismos de geração de significado. Argumenta que o problema do absurdo e do significado como um todo é, acima de tudo, um problema textual. Esta abordagem se fundamenta no legado do semioticista e estudioso da literatura Iúri Lótman, especialmente em seus conceitos de explosão e nas noções de “não-texto” e “menos- dispositivo”. O conceito de absurdo destaca o inerente paradoxo informacional da cultura humana e de seus sistemas de comunicação, nos quais ruído, erros e contratempos não impedem a comunicação, pelo contrário, estimulam-na. Em uma escala maior, o exemplo de como as culturas humanas lidam com o “não-sentido” na comunicação tem implicações para o estudo da evolução da cultura e da linguagem humanas e também traz luz adicional ao problema metodológico da relação texto/signo.
The satiric writer Mikhail Zhvanetskii occupies an important place in Soviet/Russian culture; he has been an extremely popular satirist and now enjoys the status of a living classic. This paper ...follows Zhvanetskii’s evolution from a provincial amateur writer to the master of Russian satire and humor, and attempts to explain the exceptional status of his legacy, which spans more than fifty years. Special attention will be paid to the genre in which Zhvanetskii has established himself, and his method will be examined in the light of the concepts of carnival, myth, and auto-communication. The first part of the article briefly outlines his place in Soviet estrada and his role as a satiric writer during the Soviet period. The second part deals with the period from the 1990s to the present and describes his legacy in the new reality.
Smuggling the other Semenenko, Aleksei
Translation and interpreting studies,
01/2016, Letnik:
11, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The first Russian translation of J. D. Salinger’s novel
The Catcher in the Rye
(1951) was produced in 1960 by Rita Rait-Kovaleva, a renowned translator of contemporary Western literature (English, ...French, German) in the Soviet Union. This essay examines Rait’s translation of
The Catcher in the Rye
in the context of the problem of censorship and translation, focusing on several instances of Rait’s translation of profanities and sex-related passages of
The Catcher in the Rye
. It demonstrates how the creative strategies of the translator not only helped her overcome censorship barriers but also transformed a foreign text into a new cultural model.
Smuggling the other Semenenko, Aleksei
Translation and interpreting studies,
2016, Letnik:
11, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The first Russian translation of J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) was produced in 1960 by Rita Rait-Kovaleva, a renowned translator of contemporary Western literature (English, ...French, German) in the Soviet Union. This essay examines Rait's translation of The Catcher in the Rye in the context of the problem of censorship and translation, focusing on several instances of Rait's translation of profanities and sex-related passages of The Catcher in the Rye. It demonstrates how the creative strategies of the translator not only helped her overcome censorship barriers but also transformed a foreign text into a new cultural model.
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