Name: symbolism and interpretation
SKU: 18821073
Price: 1297.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Tzvetan Todorov
ISBN: 9780801493713

Type

Physical Book

Author

Tzvetan Todorov

Translated by

Catherine Porter

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Year

1986

Language

English

Pages

176

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

21.6x14x1 cm

Weight

0.23 kg.

ISBN

0801493714

ISBN13

9780801493713

Synopsis "symbolism and interpretation"

In Symbolism and Interpretation, Tzvetan Todorov examines two aspects of discourse: its production, which has traditionally been the domain of rhetoric, and its reception, which has always been the object of hermeneutics. He analyzes the diverse theories of symbolism and interpretation that have been elaborated over the centuries and considers their contribution to a general theory of verbal symbolism, discussing a wide range of thinkers, from the Sanskrit philosophers and Aristotle to the German Romantics and contemporary semioticians.Todorov begins by examining general ideas of linguistic symbolism and the interpretive process. He then turns to a detailed consideration of two of the most influential and pervasive interpretative strategies in Western thought: the patristic exegesis of Augustine and Aquinas, and the philological exegesis foreshadowed in the work of Spinoza, developed by Wolf, Ast, Boeckh, and Lanson, and criticized by Schleiermacher. Todorov clarifies in masterly fashion the intricacies of the many schools of thought and refines the concepts crucial to critical theory today, including the distinctions between language and discourse, direct and indirect meaning, sign and symbol. Ably translated by Catherine Porter, Symbolism and Interpretation provides a coherent and innovative framework that is indispensable to the study of semiotics, its history, and its future.

Tzvetan Todorov

(Author)

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Tzvetan Todorov (Sofia, 1939 – Paris, 2017) was a Bulgarian-born French linguist, philosopher, historian of ideas, and literary theorist. Professor at the CNRS in Paris and visiting scholar at Yale, Harvard, and Columbia, he began his work in literary theory with Theory of Literature of the Russian Formalists (1965) and Literature and Signification (1967), pioneering texts in semiotics and narratology. From the 80s, he shifted towards historical and ethical essays, reflecting on the Enlightenment and totalitarianisms.

Among his most influential titles are The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other (1982), Facing the Limit (1991; Facing the Extreme), and The Abuses of Memory (1995). His exploration of evil and memory in the 20th century is summarized in Memory of Evil, Temptation of Good (2000) and The Totalitarian Experience (2010). These works, of an essayistic and historiographic genre, did not receive specific literary awards, but Todorov was honored with the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences in 2008 and received distinctions such as the Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.

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