In Chapter 4, I suggested that formalism tends to view art as a language. Semiotics has developed out of classical formalism: it can thus be considered a modern version of classical formalism. Though in the true sense of the word semiotics is a method rather than a philosophy of art, it has important implications for the latter. Because of the presuppositions and fundamental concepts of semiotics, it can be regarded both as a continuation and as a further elaboration of classical formalism. It considers the work of art to be completely autonomous and, as a rule, disregards the social and historical context, which reminds one of classical for malism. The fact that the context is only considered when it manifests itself within the work of art is yet another similarity. On the other hand, more so than in classical formalism, formal analysis is at the heart of semiotics, which is also more inclusive because it can be said to apply not only to artistic but to all cultural phenomena. And semiotics regards art and culture not so much as a language, but rather as a sign system. The term ‘semiotics’ is derived from the Greek ‘semeion’. Semiotics literally means ‘theory of signs’. This branch of science is devoted to the study of signs as they are produced and interpreted in the most diverse ways. In daily life, we constantly emit signs: each gesture that we make, each grimace, slip of the tongue, or smile are signs for others to interpret, while each traffic sign is a symbol that we are supposed to understand. As far back as Ancient times and also in the Middle Ages, a great deal of thought was given to signs. The works of the Stoics, of Augustine, and of William of Ockham — to name but a few — contain valuable reflections on the nature of signs. However, only during the present century has a systematic study of signs emerged, which has come to be called semiotics.
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Further Reading
Interesting introductions into semiotics:
Umberto Eco, A theory of semiotics, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1976. (This standard work combines both the Saussurian and the Peircean mainstreams. For the uninitiated reader, however, this book is difficult reading. Only suitable for further reading.)
Marcel Danesi and Donato Santeramo (Eds.), Introducing semiotics: an anthology of readings, Toronto: Canadian Scholar Press, 1992.
Marcel Danesi, Of cigarettes, high heels and other meaningful things: an introduction into semiotics, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. (Originally published by St. Martin's Press in 1998).
Paul Cobley, Introducing semiotics, Illustrated by Litza Jansz, edited by Richard Appignanesi, New York: Totem Books, 1999.
Paul Cobley (Ed.), The Routledge companian to semiotics and linguistics, London/New York: Routledge, 2001.
The Dutch introduction referred to, is:
Aart van Zoest, Semiotiek, Baarn, Ambo, 1978.
Some important sources of the two mainstreams:
Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in general linguistics, edited by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, LaSalle, IL: Open Court, 1986.
James Hoopes (Ed.), Peirce on signs: writings on semiotic, Chapel Hill, NC: University of Carolina Press, 1991.
Interesting anthology in the field of semiotics:
Marshall Blonsky (Ed.), On signs, A semiotic reader, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins, Oxford, 1985. (Very comprehensive and many-sided reader, richly illustrated and provided with an interesting and critical introduction by M. Blonsky. Didactically very useful.)
On the relation between semiotics and structuralism:
Terence Hawkes, Structuralism and semiotics, London/New York: Routledge, 2003 (Originally published in 1977).
Readers on Roland Barthes’ work:
Susan Sontag (Ed.), A Roland Barthes reader, London: Vintage, 2000 (Originally published in 1982). (With an insightful introduction by Susan Sontag, this is surely the best reader available in English. It contains a fine and relevant collection of Barthes’ writings over a period of three decades).
Roland Barthes, The semiotic challenge, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994 (Originally published in 1988). Important English anthology of the semiotic writings of Barthes.
The most important semiotic writings of Roland Barthes:
Roland Barthes, Writing degree zero, London, Cape, 1967; Boston: Beacon Press, 1968.
Roland Barthes, Mythologies, London: Vintage, 2000 (Originally published in 1972).
Roland Barthes, Elements of semiology, London: J. Cape, 1967; New York: Hill and Wang, 1968.
Roland Barthes, Pleasure of the text, New York: Hill and Wang, 1975; London: J. Cape, 1976.
Recommended reference works on film semiotics:
Bill Nichols, Movies and methods, Vol. I, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1976. (In particular the section on ‘structuralism-semiology’ [469–628]. An excellent collection of important theoretical articles.)
Peter Wollen, Sign and meaning in the cinema, London: British Film Institute, 1997 (Originally published in 1969).
Christian Metz, Film language: a semiotics of cinema, Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1991 (Originally published in 1974).
Robert Stam, Robert Burgoyne, and Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, New vocabularies in film semiotics: structuralism, post-structuralism and beyond, London and New York: Routledge, 1992.
Warren Buckland, The cognitive semiotics of film, Cambridge, UK and New York, Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Applied semiotic film analyses:
Eric de Kuyper, Filmische Hartstochten [Filmic Passions], Weesp: Wereldvenster and Antwerp: Standaard, 1984.
Bill Nichols, Movies and methods, Vol. II, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1985. (In particular, part 4 on ‘structuralist semiotics’ (sic) and part 5 on ‘psycho-analytic semiotics’ [391 to 621]. Interesting series of applied semiotic film analyses).
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(2009). The Modern Version of Formalism: The Semiotic Point of View. In: Thinking Art. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5638-3_10
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