Semiotics

Popular Semiotics Books

17+ [Hand Picked] Popular Books On Semiotics


3.9/5

Mythologies by Roland Barthes , Annette Lavers (Translator)

"No denunciation without its proper instrument of close analysis," Roland Barthes wrote in his preface to Mythologies. There is no more proper instrument of analysis of our contemporary myths than this book—one of the most significant works in French theory, and one that has transformed the way readers and philosophers view the world around them. Our age is a triumph of cod "No denunciation without its proper instrument of close analysis," Roland Barthes wrote in his preface to Mythologies. There is no more proper instrument of analysis of our contemporary myths than this book—one of the most significant works in French theory, and one that has transformed the way readers and philosophers view the world around them. Our age is a triumph of codification. We own devices that bring the world to the command of our fingertips. We have access to boundless information and prodigious quantities of stuff. We decide to like or not, to believe or not, to buy or not. We pick and choose. We think we are free. Yet all around us, in pop culture, politics, mainstream media, and advertising, there are codes and symbols that govern our choices. They are the fabrications of consumer society. They express myths of success, well-being, and happiness. As Barthes sees it, these myths must be carefully deciphered, and debunked. What Barthes discerned in mass media, the fashion of plastic, and the politics of postcolonial France applies with equal force to today's social networks, the iPhone, and the images of 9/11. This new edition of Mythologies, complete and beautifully rendered by the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, critic, and translator Richard Howard, is a consecration of Barthes's classic—a lesson in clairvoyance that is more relevant now than ever.
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.4/5

A Theory of Semiotics by Umberto Eco

..". the greatest contribution to [semiotics] since the pioneering work of C. S. Peirce and Charles Morris." --Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism ..". draws on philosophy, linguistics, sociology, anthropology and aesthetics and refers to a wide range of scholarship... raises many fascinating questions." --Language in Society ..". a major contribution to the field of sem ..". the greatest contribution to [semiotics] since the pioneering work of C. S. Peirce and Charles Morris." --Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism ..". draws on philosophy, linguistics, sociology, anthropology and aesthetics and refers to a wide range of scholarship... raises many fascinating questions." --Language in Society ..". a major contribution to the field of semiotic studies." --Robert Scholes, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism ..". the most significant text on the subject published in the English language that I know of." --Arthur Asa Berger, Journal of Communication Eco's treatment demonstrates his mastery of the field of semiotics. It focuses on the twin problems of the doctrine of signs--communication and signification--and offers a highly original theory of sign production, including a carefully wrought typology of signs and modes of production.
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.2/5

Semiotics: The Basics (The Basics) by Daniel Chandler

Using jargon-free language and lively, up-to-date examples, Semiotics: The Basics demystifies this highly interdisciplinary subject. Along the way, the reader will find out: * What is a sign? * Which codes do we take for granted? * What is a text? * How can semiotics be used in textual analysis? * Who were Saussure, Peirce, Barthes and Jakobson - and why are they important? Fea Using jargon-free language and lively, up-to-date examples, Semiotics: The Basics demystifies this highly interdisciplinary subject. Along the way, the reader will find out: * What is a sign? * Which codes do we take for granted? * What is a text? * How can semiotics be used in textual analysis? * Who were Saussure, Peirce, Barthes and Jakobson - and why are they important? Features include a glossary of key terms and realistic suggestions for further reading. There is also a highly-developed and long-established online version of the book at: www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B.
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.6/5

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco , William Weaver (Translator) , Seán Barrett (Reading)

The year is 1327. Benedictines in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon—all sharpened to a glis The year is 1327. Benedictines in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon—all sharpened to a glistening edge by wry humor and a ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey, where “the most interesting things happen at night.”
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.6/5

Introducing Semiotics by Paul Cobley , Litza Jansz (Contributor)

Why study signs? This perennial question of philosophy is answered by the science of semiotics. An animal's cry, poetry, the medical symptom, media messages, language disorders, architecture, marketing, body language - all these, and more, fall within the sphere of semiotics.Introducing Semiotics outlines the development of sign study from its classical precursors to conte Why study signs? This perennial question of philosophy is answered by the science of semiotics. An animal's cry, poetry, the medical symptom, media messages, language disorders, architecture, marketing, body language - all these, and more, fall within the sphere of semiotics.Introducing Semiotics outlines the development of sign study from its classical precursors to contemporary post-structuralism. Through Paul Cobley's incisive text and Litza Jansz's brilliant illustrations, it identifies the key semioticians and their work and explains the simple concepts behind difficult terms. For anybody who wishes to know why signs are crucial to human existence and how we can begin to study systems of signification, this book is the place to start. It is the perfect companion volume to Introducing Barthes
I WANT TO READ THIS

4/5

Elements of Semiology by Roland Barthes , Annette Lavers (Translator) , Colin Smith (Translator)

"In his Course in General Linguistics, first published in 1916, Saussure postulated the existence of a general science of signs, or Semiology, of which linguistics would form only one part. Semiology, therefore aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, whic "In his Course in General Linguistics, first published in 1916, Saussure postulated the existence of a general science of signs, or Semiology, of which linguistics would form only one part. Semiology, therefore aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of signification . . . The Elements here presented have as their sole aim the extraction from linguistics of analytical concepts which we think a priori to be sufficiently general to start semiological research on its way. In assembling them, it is not presupposed that they will remain intact during the course of research; nor that semiology will always be forced to follow the linguistic model closely. We are merely suggesting and elucidating a terminology in the hope that it may enable an initial (albeit provisional) order to be introduced into the heterogeneous mass of significant facts. In fact what we purport to do is furnish a principle of classification of the questions. These elements of semiology will therefore be grouped under four main headings borrowed from structural linguistics: I. Language and Speech; II. Signified and Signifier; III. Syntagm and System; IV. Denotation and Connotation."--Roland Barthes, from his Introduction
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.7/5

Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language by Umberto Eco

Eco wittily and enchantingly develops themes often touched on in his previous works, but he delves deeper into their complex nature... this collection can be read with pleasure by those unversed in semiotic theory." --Times Literary Supplement
I WANT TO READ THIS

3.9/5

The Pleasure of the Text by Roland Barthes , Richard Miller (Translation)

What is it that we do when we enjoy a text? What is the pleasure of reading? The French critic and theorist Roland Barthes's answers to these questions constitute "perhaps for the first time in the history of criticism . . . not only a poetics of reading . . . but a much more difficult achievement, an erotics of reading . . . . Like filings which gather to form a figure in What is it that we do when we enjoy a text? What is the pleasure of reading? The French critic and theorist Roland Barthes's answers to these questions constitute "perhaps for the first time in the history of criticism . . . not only a poetics of reading . . . but a much more difficult achievement, an erotics of reading . . . . Like filings which gather to form a figure in a magnetic field, the parts and pieces here do come together, determined to affirm the pleasure we must take in our reading as against the indifference of (mere) knowledge." --Richard Howard
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.6/5

S/Z: An Essay by Roland Barthes , Richard Miller (Translator) , Richard Howard (Preface by)

This is Barthes's scrupulous literary analysis of Balzac's short story Sarrasine.
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.3/5

Empire of Signs by Roland Barthes , Richard Howard (Translation) , 江灝 (translator)

With this book, Barthes offers a broad-ranging meditation on the culture, society, art, literature, language, and iconography--in short, both the sign-oriented realities and fantasies--of Japan itself.
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.4/5

Image-Music-Text by Roland Barthes , Stephen Heath (Translator )

Image-Music-Text brings together major essays by Roland Barthes on the structural analysis of narrative and on issues in literary theory, on the semiotics of photograph and film, and on the practice of music and voice. Throughout the volume runs a constant movement from work to text: an attention to the very ‘grain’ of signifying activity and the desire to follow – in liter Image-Music-Text brings together major essays by Roland Barthes on the structural analysis of narrative and on issues in literary theory, on the semiotics of photograph and film, and on the practice of music and voice. Throughout the volume runs a constant movement from work to text: an attention to the very ‘grain’ of signifying activity and the desire to follow – in literature, image, film, song and theatre – whatever turns, displaces, shifts, disperses. Stephen Heath, whose translation has been described as ‘skilful and readable’ (TLS) and ‘quite brilliant’ (TES), is the author of Vertige du déplacement, a study of Barthes. His selection of essays, each important in its own right, also serves as ‘the best... introduction so far to Barthes’ career as the slayer of contemporary myths’. (John Sturrock, New Statesman)
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.7/5

The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts by Umberto Eco

... not merely interesting and novel, but also exceedingly provocative and heuristically fertile." --The Review of Metaphysics ... essential reading for anyone interesting in... the new reader-centered forms of criticism." --Library Journal In this erudite and imaginative book, Umberto Eco sets forth a dialectic between 'open' and 'closed' texts.
I WANT TO READ THIS

3.9/5

Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition by Umberto Eco , Alastair McEwen (Translator)

How do we know a cat is a cat? And why do we call it a cat? How much of our perception of things is based on cognitive ability, and how much on linguistic resources? Here, in six remarkable essays, Umberto Eco explores in depth questions of reality, perception, and experience. Basing his ideas on common sense, Eco shares a vast wealth of literary and historical knowledge, How do we know a cat is a cat? And why do we call it a cat? How much of our perception of things is based on cognitive ability, and how much on linguistic resources? Here, in six remarkable essays, Umberto Eco explores in depth questions of reality, perception, and experience. Basing his ideas on common sense, Eco shares a vast wealth of literary and historical knowledge, touching on issues that affect us every day. At once philosophical and amusing, Kant and the Platypus is a tour of the world of our senses, told by a master of knowing what is real and what is not.
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.8/5

The Limits of Interpretation by Umberto Eco

"Eco's essays read like letters from a friend, trying to share something he loves with someone he likes.... Read this brilliant, enjoyable, and possibly revolutionary book." --George J. Leonard, San Francisco Review of Books ..". a wealth of insight and instruction." --J. O. Tate, National Review "If anyone can make [semiotics] clear, it's Professor Eco.... Professor Eco's t "Eco's essays read like letters from a friend, trying to share something he loves with someone he likes.... Read this brilliant, enjoyable, and possibly revolutionary book." --George J. Leonard, San Francisco Review of Books ..". a wealth of insight and instruction." --J. O. Tate, National Review "If anyone can make [semiotics] clear, it's Professor Eco.... Professor Eco's theme deserves respect; language should be used to communicate more easily without literary border guards." --The New York Times "The limits of interpretation mark the limits of our world. Umberto Eco's new collection of essays touches deftly on such matters." --Times Literary Supplement "It is a careful and challenging collection of essays that broach topics rarely considered with any seriousness by literary theorists." --Diacritics Umberto Eco focuses here on what he once called "the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation"--that is, the belief that many interpreters have gone too far in their domination of texts, thereby destroying meaning and the basis for communication.
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.3/5

Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard , Sheila Faria Glaser (Translator)

The first full-length translation in English of an essential work of postmodernism. The publication of Simulacra et Simulation in 1981 marked Jean Baudrillard's first important step toward theorizing the postmodern. Moving away from the Marxist/Freudian approaches that had concerned him earlier, Baudrillard developed in this book a theory of contemporary culture that relies The first full-length translation in English of an essential work of postmodernism. The publication of Simulacra et Simulation in 1981 marked Jean Baudrillard's first important step toward theorizing the postmodern. Moving away from the Marxist/Freudian approaches that had concerned him earlier, Baudrillard developed in this book a theory of contemporary culture that relies on displacing economic notions of cultural production with notions of cultural expenditure. Baudrillard uses the concepts of the simulacra—the copy without an original—and simulation. These terms are crucial to an understanding of the postmodern, to the extent that they address the concept of mass reproduction and reproduceability that characterizes our electronic media culture. Baudrillard's book represents a unique and original effort to rethink cultural theory from the perspective of a new concept of cultural materialism, one that radically redefines postmodern formulations of the body. Sheila Glaser is an editor at Artforum magazine.
I WANT TO READ THIS

3.9/5

La Septième fonction du langage by Laurent Binet

« A Bologne, il couche avec Bianca dans un amphithéâtre du XVIIe et il échappe à un attentat à la bombe. Ici, il manque de se faire poignarder dans une bibliothèque de nuit par un philosophe du langage et il assiste à une scène de levrette plus ou moins mythologique sur une photocopieuse. Il a rencontré Giscard à l’Elysée, a croisé Foucault dans un sauna gay, a participé à « A Bologne, il couche avec Bianca dans un amphithéâtre du XVIIe et il échappe à un attentat à la bombe. Ici, il manque de se faire poignarder dans une bibliothèque de nuit par un philosophe du langage et il assiste à une scène de levrette plus ou moins mythologique sur une photocopieuse. Il a rencontré Giscard à l’Elysée, a croisé Foucault dans un sauna gay, a participé à une poursuite en voiture à l’issue de laquelle il a échappé à une tentative d’assassinat, a vu un homme en tuer un autre avec un parapluie empoisonné, a découvert une société secrète où on coupe les doigts des perdants, a traversé l’Atlantique pour récupérer un mystérieux document. Il a vécu en quelques mois plus d’événements extraordinaires qu’il aurait pensé en vivre durant toute sa vie. Simon sait reconnaître du romanesque quand il en rencontre. Il repense aux surnuméraires d’Umberto Eco. Il tire sur le joint. » Le point de départ de ce roman est la mort de Roland Barthes, renversé par une camionnette de blanchisserie le 25 février 1980. L'hypothèse est qu'il s'agit d'un assassinat. Dans les milieux intellectuels et politiques de l'époque, tout le monde est suspect...
I WANT TO READ THIS

4.8/5

Dr. Kvadratas. Greimas ir jo semiotika by Miglė Anušauskaitė

Miglės Anušauskaitės komiksas pasakoja vieno žmogaus gyvenimo istoriją: nuo vaikystės Kupiškyje iki mokslų Kaune, per II pasaulinio karo baisumus, pro Aleksandriją iki Prancūzijos. Šis žmogus – tai pasaulinio garso mokslininkas, semiotikas Algirdas Julius Greimas, sukūręs naują metodą analizuoti kultūros reiškinius, visą gyvenimą kėlęs prasmės klausimą. Autorė į grafinį pa Miglės Anušauskaitės komiksas pasakoja vieno žmogaus gyvenimo istoriją: nuo vaikystės Kupiškyje iki mokslų Kaune, per II pasaulinio karo baisumus, pro Aleksandriją iki Prancūzijos. Šis žmogus – tai pasaulinio garso mokslininkas, semiotikas Algirdas Julius Greimas, sukūręs naują metodą analizuoti kultūros reiškinius, visą gyvenimą kėlęs prasmės klausimą. Autorė į grafinį pasakojimą žaismingai įterpia semiotikos teoriją, filosofijos sroves ir patarimus, kaip atrodyti protingai. Tai labai svarbi ir įdomi istorija, skirta suaugusiems skaitytojams! „Nuostabu, kad Miglė sugebėjo ne tik pavaizduoti A. J. Greimo kaip mąstytojo kelią, istorinį ir filosofinį kontekstą, kuriame gimė semiotika, bet ir padarė tai su jai būdinga ironija, puikiu humoro jausmu ir švelniai absurdišku stiliumi. Be jokių panegirikos ženklų galiu pasakyti, kad tai vienas geriausių mano matytų būdų populiarinti humanitarinius mokslus ir jų kompleksines problemas bei sprendinius.“ Žurnalistas ir politikos komentatorius PAULIUS GRITĖNAS „Rašau įvertinimą šiai knygai ir jau dešimtą kartą jį ištrinu, nes nesugebu aprašyti to jausmo, kurį man ji kelia. Vaizdiniai ir gyvenimas, stebuklai ir atradimai. Struktūros, kurios auga. Vis sudėtingesnė logika, o paskui – pasirodo, kad tiesiog jausmas. Ir atradimas. Ar galima atrasti prasmę, kurios prasmė negali būti apibrėžiama? Šioje knygoje Greimas ją atrado. Tai geriausia knyga apie Greimą ir semiotiką.“ Tinklaraštininkas Rokiškis Rabinovičius (RIČARDAS SAVUKYNAS) Komikso autorė Miglė Anušauskaitė gimė 1988 m. Kaune, vėliau gyveno Pakruojyje ir Vilniuje, kur mokėsi, skaitė, rašė, o ilgainiui pradėjo ir paišyti. Vilniaus universitete pabaigė žurnalistikos bakalauro ir semiotikos magistro studijas, o šiuo metu studijuoja doktorantūrą Lietuvių kalbos institute, dirba Lietuvos nacionalinės Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekos Judaikos tyrimų centre. Miglės komiksų galima rasti knygoje „10 litų“, kurią 2014 m. ji nupiešė drauge su Gerda Jord (leidykla – „Aukso žuvys“), savaitraštyje „Šiaurės Atėnai“, portale „Kultūrpolis“, jos tinklaraštyje „ihavenoteeth.com“, „Heraklis.com“ ir, gerai paieškojus, dar daug kur. Knyga „Dr. Kvadratas“ – naujas puslapis autorės kūryboje, kur studijų metu įgytos žinios perfiltruojamos per komikso formą ir knygos puslapiuose atgimsta nauju formatu.
I WANT TO READ THIS