Structuralism and Semiotics

Description

We live in a world of signs, and of signs about signs. A growing awareness of this situation in the last decades of the twentieth century brought a monumental change in perspecive on the very nature of reality. It forced us to recognise the possibility that reality inheres not in things themselves, but in the relationships we perceive between things; not in items but in structures. In exploring and seeking to further these ideas, critics turned to the methods of analysis loosely termed 'structuralism' and 'semiotics'. Their work gave rise to a revolution in critical theory. This classic guide discusses the nature and development of structuralism and semiotics, calling for a new critical awareness of the ways in which we communicate and drawing attention to their implications for our society. Published in 1977 as the first volume in the new Accents series, Structuralism and Semiotics made crucial debates in critical theory accessible to those with no prior knowledge of the field, tus enhancing its own small revolution. Since then a generation of readers has used the book as an entry not only into structuralism and semiotics, but into the wide range of cultural and critical theories underpinned by these approaches. Structuralism and Semiotics remains the clearest introduction to some of the most important topics in modern critical theory. An afterword and fresh suggestions for further reading ensure this new edition will become, like its predecessor, the essential starting point for anyone new to the field.

'A compact volume that performs marvels in the difficult art of summarizing (without betrayal) the complex theories that for the past seventy-five years have been labelled "structuralist". Hawkes ranges from Vico to Barthes, writing with a lucidity and grasp of the essential points that is nothing short of astonishing.' - Choice 'Occasionally a book appears which, because of its scope and vision, serves not just as a tool for our field, but as a suggestion of a larger enterprise. Hawkes provides such a work in this exposition and synthesis of major figures and works of the intellectual movement structuralism and it derivative semiotics. His treatment is thorough and scholarly, yet accessible to readers not already versed in the methods, concepts and argot of the movement.' - Quarterly Journal of Speech