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HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
2nd degree (Master)
Responsible Department:
General & Compar. Literature
Semester:
1st Semester
Teaching Languages:
English
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Dr. Chiara Caradonna
Coordinator Office Hours:
Teaching Staff:
Dr. chiara Caradonna
Course/Module description:
From traffic lights to tattoos, from a jingle in the radio to the packaging of the milk we buy at the supermarket all the way to the complex and ambiguous structures of literary texts, of film, painting or an art installation – we are surrounded by signs waiting to be understood, interpreted, explained. The present course will offer an introduction into the development of the science of signs (semiotics/semiology) in philosophy and linguistics from the beginning of the 20th century onwards, and will then focus on its development in the Italian and francophone context. We will delve into the various definitions that have been provided of what a “sign” is and how it forms part of our daily communication. Through in-depth readings of Umberto Eco, Roland Barthes and Julia Kristeva, we will then proceed to analyse the workings of signs in popular culture and the arts. Students will be invited to bring concrete examples from their daily life that we will jointly and critically interpret in class, as we learn to recognize the signs around us and their ideological, political and social implications. Throughout, Eco’s observation will accompany us: “to explain how and why people communicate today means to determine the way and the reasons why people will communicate tomorrow.”
Course/Module aims:
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
By the end of the course, students will have gained a thorough overview of the development of semiotics in the 20th century and will be able to identify and recognize the positions held by different thinkers in this respect. Moreover, they will be encouraged and able to carry out semiological analysis of both works of art (literature, painting, film, architecture, etc.) and of items of popular culture (publicity, pop music, social media etc.).
Attendance requirements(%):
100
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
The course consists in close reading and discussion of the texts at hand. Students are required to read the texts closely beforehand and participate actively in the classes by preparing specific questions to be handed in before the class and then raised during the class. During the break (18- 25 December; deadline: 24 December 2022), students will be asked to conduct a semiological analysis of an item of their choice in a 1-2 page paper. Students will be encouraged to bring in concrete examples of signs in daily communication throughout the semester.
Course/Module Content:
1)25/10
Introduction: Playing with Signs
2)8/11
Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics (1916) [Excerpts]
3)15/11
Charles Sanders Peirce, Correspondance with Lady Victoria Welby (1906-10) [Excerpts]
4)22/11
Roman Jakobson, Is the Film in Decline ? (1933) | On the Relation between Visual and Auditory Signs (1964)
5)29/11
Roland Barthes, Mythologies (1957) [Excerpts]
6)6/12
Roland Barthes, Elements of Semiology (1964) [Excerpts]
7) 13/12
Umberto Eco, A Theory of Semiotics (1976) [Excerpts]
8)27/12
Umberto Eco, A Theory of Semiotics (1976) [Excerpts] + Apocalypse Postponed [Excerpts]
9)3/1
Julia Kristeva, Language: the Unknown (1981) [Excerpts]
10)10/1
Julia Kristeva, Language: the Unknown (1981) [Excerpts]
11)17/1
Julia Kristeva, Desire in Language (1977) [Excerpts]
12)24/1
Outlook and Concluding Discussion
Required Reading:
Roland Barthes, Elements of Semiology, trans. A. Lavers, London: Cape 1987.
—, The Photographic Message, Communications 1, 1961.
—, Rhetoric of the Image, Communications 4, 1964.
Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics (1916), trans. Roy Harris, London et al.: Bloomsbury 1983
Umberto Eco, A Theory of Semiotics, Bloomington, London: Indiana University Press 1976
—, Apocalypse Postponed, ed. by R. Lumley, Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press 1994
—, From the Tree to the Labyrinth. Historical Studies on the Sign and Interpretation, trans. A. Oldcorn, Cambridge: Harvard University Press 2014
Charles S. Hardwick, James Cook (Eds.), Semiotic & Significs: The Correspondence Between Charles S. Peirce & Victoria Lady Welby, Bloomington, London: Indiana University Press 1977
Roman Jakobson, Language in Literature, ed. by Krystyna Pomorska, Stephen Rudy, Cambridge: Belkamp 1987
Julia Kristeva, Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art, trans. T. Gora, A. Jardine and L. S. Roudiez, Oxford: Blackwell 1981.
—, Language: the Unknown (1981)
—, The Revolution in Poetic Language, trans. M. Waller, New York: Columbia University Press 1984
Additional Reading Material:
Peter Bondanella, Umberto Eco and the Open Text. Semiotics, Fiction, Popular Culture, Cambridge University Press 1997
— (ed.), New Essays on Umberto Eco, Cambridge University Press 2013
Martin Krampen, Klaus Oehler, Roland Posner, Thomas A. Sebeok, Thure von Uexküll (eds.), Classics of Semiotics, New York: Springer 1987
Noëlle McAfee, Julia Kristeva, New York: Routledge 2004
Irene Portis Winner, Jean Umiker-Sebeok (eds.), Semiotics of Culture, The Hague, Paris, New York: Mouton Publishers 1979
Carol Sanders (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Saussure, Cambridge University Press 2004
Thomas A. Sebeok, Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics, Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1994
—, Global Semiotics, Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press 2001
Priscila Borges, “Tracing signs of a developing science: On the correspondence between Victoria Lady Welby and Charles S. Peirce”, Semiotica 196 (2013), 163–184
Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 20 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 80 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %
Additional information:
Students will be asked to write a paper of 10 pp. in which they will analyze one specific cultural product of their choice from the point of view of one the theoretical approaches discussed during the semester. Deadline to hand in the paper is 5 March 2023.
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