Abstract
The present paper is dedicated to the analysis and interpretation of languages of space within the context of the artistic world, conceptualised by Lotman in his early works, especially in his examination and characterisation of N. Gogol’s spatial universe (1968). The central problem is the transformation of the languages of space into space as language. Space is the complex notion for Lotman and consists of geographical space, artistic space, cultural space, model of space. All these notions are connected to both, synchronic and diachronic textual spaces. Already in his first semiotic book Lectures in Structural Poetics (1964) Lotman accentuated the importance of the semiotic analyses of the nature of the artistic text as the basis for the creation of new methods for a better understanding of cultural history. In Lotman’s semiotics of literature it is important that there is complementarity between text and history; languages of space and languages of culture; text, culture and semiosphere; and finally, between languages of space and space as language.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination. Four essays (C. Emerson and M. Holquist, Transl.) (pp. 84–258). University of Texas Press.
Bakhtin, M. (2002). Rabochie zapisi 1960—nachala 1970 godov [Notes from the 1960s—the early 1970s]. In Sobranie sochinenii v 7 tomah. T. 6 [Collected works in 7 volumes] (Vol. 6, pp. 371–439). Moscow: Russkie slovari, Yazyki slavyanskoj kul’tury.
Emerson, C. (2022). Lotman and Bakhtin. In M. Tamm & P. Torop (Eds.), The companion to Juri Lotman: Semiotic theory of culture (pp. 76–90). Bloomsbury Academic.
Hess-Lüttich, E. W. B. (2012). Spatial turn: On the concept of space in cultural geography and literary theory. Meta-Carto-Semiotics Journal for Theoretical Cartography, 5, 1–11.
Kovalyova, N., & Gusakov, V. (2009). Struktura hudozhestvennogo protranstva v povesti N. V. Gogolja “Strashnaja mest” [The structure of the artistic space in N. V. Gogol’s story “A terrible vengeance”]. Problemi sociogumanitarnih nauk, 3(77), 27–31.
Kroó, K. (2022). Lotman and literary studies. In M. Tamm & P. Torop (Eds.), The companion to Juri Lotman: Semiotic theory of culture (pp. 350–366). Bloomsbury Academic.
Lavrenova, O. (2019). Spaces and meanings: Semantics of the cultural landscape. Springer.
Lorusso, A. M. (2019). Between times and spaces: Polyglotism and polychronism in Yuri Lotman. Bakhtiniana: Revista de Estudos do Discurso, 14(4), 83–98.
Lotman, J. (1964). Lekcii po struktural’noi poetike. Vypusk I. (Vvedenie, teorija stiha) [Lectures in structural poetics. Issue 1, introduction, theory of verse]. Trudy po znakovym sistemam 1, 1–195.
Lotman, J. (1968). Problema hudozhestvennogo prostranstva v proze Gogolja [The problem of artistic space in Gogol's prose]. In Trudy po russkoi i slavjanskoi folologii [Works on Russian and Slavic philology] (Vol. 11, pp. 5–50). Leteraturovedenie.
Lotman, J. (1976). Analysis of the poetic text. Ardis.
Lotman, J., & Piatigorsky, A. (1978). Text and function. New Literary History, 9(2), 233–244.
Lotman, J. (1990a). The artistic space in Gogol’s prose. Russian Literature Triquarterly, 23, 199–241.
Lotman, J. (1990b). Universe of the mind: A semiotic theory of culture. I. B. Tauris & Co.
Lotman, J. (1992). Tekst i poliglotizm kul’tury [Text and cultural polyglotism]. In Lotman, Izbrannye stat’i. Vol. 1. Stat’i po tipologii kul’tury [Selected articles. Vol. 1. Articles on the typology of culture] (pp. 142–147). Tallinn: Aleksandra.
Lotman, J. (1997). Pis’ma 1940–1993 [Writings]. Iazyki Russkoi Kul’tury.
Low, S. (2017). Spatializing culture: The ethnography of space and place. Routledge.
Nöth, W. (2015). The topography of Yuri Lotman’s semiosphere. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 18(1), 11–26.
Pavelieva A. K. & Radchenko Y. S. (2021). Artistic time and space continuums in Nikolai Gogol’s prose: Theoretical aspect. Hayкoвий вicник Miжнapoднoгo гyмaнiтapнoгo yнiвepcитeтy. Cep.: Фiлoлoгiя, 48(4), 96-99.
Piatigorsky, A. (1962). Nekotorye obshie zamechanija otnositel’no rassmotrenija teksta kak kak raznovidnost’ signala [Some general remarks on considering text as a kind of signal]. In Strukturno-tipologicheskie issledovanija [Structural and typological studies] (pp. 144–154). Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR.
Randviir, A. (2022). Space. In M. Tamm & P. Torop (Eds.), The companion to Juri Lotman: Semiotic theory of culture (pp. 200–210). Bloomsbury Academic.
Škulj, J. (2004). Literature and space: Textual, artistic and cultural spaces of transgressiveness. Primerjalna Književnost, 27, 21–37.
Toporov, V. (2003). Peterburgskij tekst russkoj literatury‘: Izbranny‘e trudy‘ [The text of Petersburg in Russian literature: Selected works]. St.Petersburg: Iskusstvo.
Torop, P. (2017). Semiotics of cultural history. Sign Systems Studies, 45(3/4), 317–334.
Torop, P. (2019). Russian theory and semiotics of culture: History and perspectives. Bakhtiniana: Revista de Estudos do Discurso., 14(4), 19–39.
van Baak, J. (2009). The house in Russian literature: A mythopoetic exploration. Rodopi.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Confict of interest
The author has no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Torop, P. Lotman’s semiotics of literature in terms of “space as language”. Neohelicon 49, 581–591 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-022-00659-5
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-022-00659-5