Symbolism and Interpretation - Hardcover

Todorov, Tzvetan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801412692 ISBN 13: 9780801412691

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 1982

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Tzvetan Todorov is Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. A native of Bulgaria living in France for over four decades, he is among the most influential literary and cultural theorists writing today. Among his many books available in English translation are The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, Theories of the Symbol, and Symbolism and Interpretation, all available from Cornell.

Catherine Porter is Professor of French at State University of New York College at Cortland.

Language Notes:

Text: English, French (translation)

About this edition

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 1982
• ISBN 10: 0801412692
• ISBN 13: 9780801412691
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176