Cultural Syllabus
Series Editor
Mark Lipovetsky (Columbia University)
Culture and
Communication:
Signs in Flux
An Anthology of Major
and Lesser-Known Works
by Yuri Lotman
Edited by Andreas Schönle
Translated from the Russian
by Benjamin Paloff
BOSTON
2020
The publication of this book is supported by the grant from the TRANSKRIPT program of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation.
Originals: © Yuri Lotman estate, Estonian Semiotics Repository Foundation (Eesti Semiootikavaramu), all rights reserved. Published by arrangement with ELKOST Intl. Literary Agency, Barcelona, Spain.
Collection: © Academic Studies Press
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lotman,
Title: Culture and communication: signs in flux: an anthology of major and lesser-known works/by Yuri Lotman; edited by Andreas Schönle; translated from the Russian by Benjamin Paloff.
Description: Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2020. | Series: Cultural syllabus | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020011311 (print) | LCCN 2020011312 (ebook) | ISBN 9781644693865 (hardback) | ISBN 9781644693872 (paperback) | ISBN 9781644693889 (adobe pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Semiotics. | Culture--Semiotic models.
Classification: LCC P99 .L6625 2020 (print) | LCC P99 (ebook) | DDC 401/.4--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020011311
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020011312
ISBN 9781644693865 hardback
ISBN 9781644693872 paperback
ISBN 9781644693889 ebook PDF
ISBN 9781644693896 ePub
Cover design by Ivan Grave
On the cover: Photograph by Malev Toom, Tartu Art Museum, Contemporary Art Collection. Reproduced by permission
Book design by PHi Business Solutions
Published by Academic Studies Press
1577 Beacon Street
Brookline, MA 02446, USA
press@ academicstudiespress.com
Contents
Autocommunication: “I” and “Other” as Addressees
2. From The Structure of the Artistic Text
“Noise” and Artistic Information
The Problem of Plot
The Interrupted and the Uninterrupted
Perspectives
Instead of Conclusions
4. Memory in a Culturological Light
6. The Role of Dual Models in the Dynamics of Russian Culture
7. The Symbolism of Petersburg and the Problems of Semiotics of the City
Acknowledgments
We wish to express our gratitude to friends and colleagues who have helped shape and facilitate this project at various stages: Jonathan Bolton, Marina Grishakova, Mark Lipovetsky, Mikhail Lotman, William Mills Todd III, B. A. Uspensky as well as our two anonymous peer reviewers.
Thanks are also due to the supportive editorial team at Academic Studies Press, who have encouraged this project at every stage, including Jenna Colozza, Oleh Kotsyuba, Igor Nemirkovsky, Kira Nemirovsky, Faith Stein, and Ekaterina Yanduganova.
We are grateful to the Yuri Lotman Estate, Estonian Semiotics Repository Foundation (Eesti Semiootikavaramu) for the right to translate the texts included in this volume.
A Note on the Text
Lotman’s original notes are reproduced here as endnotes referenced by Arabic numerals. We used footnotes,