Artur Gałkowski - Böcker

This unique book, inspired by the work of Umberto Eco - one of the greatest semioticians of all times - provides a compelling overview of current developments in semiotic research, bringing together various academic voices and critical reflections on the nature and function of signs, signification, and communication. Contributors, including Eco himself, discuss the status quo of the discipline, its scope, theoretical orientations, and methodological approaches, shedding light on the cognitive and philosophical complexity of the meaning-making process and form–meaning interfaces. The book is an outcome of the SIVO Signum-Idea-Verbum-Opus project initiated by Umberto Eco’s keynote address during his visit at the University of Łódź in 2015. More theoretical insights and further explorations into contemporary semiosphere can be found in Current Perspectives in Semiotics: Texts, Genres, and Representations, published simultaneously by Peter Lang.

This timely volume, inspired by the work of Umberto Eco, features applications of semiotic theories and methodological frameworks to a vast array of texts, genres and practices within contemporary semiosphere. Exploring the interplay of language, image and sound, contributors discuss the structural and functional properties of signs, along with motivations behind them and implications they have for the meaning-making process, identity, ideology, and the politics of representation. The volume is an outcome of the SIVO «Signum-Idea-Verbum-Opus» project initiated by Umberto Eco’s keynote address during his visit at the University of Łódź in 2015. It is also a continuation of theoretical explorations which can be found in «Current Perspectives in Semiotics: Signs, Signification, and Communication», published simultaneously by Peter Lang.

Et in Arcadia ego scrive Goethe a sigillo di un viaggio nella città di Roma – l’ideale Arcadia di scrittori, artisti ed intellettuali della modernità. Il presente volume raccoglie capitoli dedicati alla figura dell’Urbe in quanto città-Arcadia: come delle ideali vie consolari, tali interventi si sviluppano verso le più varie diramazioni tematiche, pur avendo tutti lo stesso punto di origine o di arrivo: Roma, intesa alla luce del valore architettonico, storico oppure anche simbolico. Una prima ideale “via” di discussione parte dalla Polonia, un’altra passa attraverso l’Inghilterra, una terza “via” unisce idealmente la Grecia con la Russia; un’ultima si origina dalla Roma antica e spazia dal Cinquecento fino ad arrivare alla fin de siècle e al Novecento.Et in Arcadia ego is what Goethe writes after his journey to the city of Rome, to denote the ideal Arcadia for writers, artists and intellectuals of modernity. The present collection comprises chapters dedicated to the figure of Rome as an Arcadia-city: like ideal consular roads, these papers develop into varied thematic branches, even though they all have the same starting, or ending, point – the city of Rome, analyzed from the point of view of its architectural, historical or symbolic value. One ideal “road” of discussion starts in Poland, another “road” passes through England, a third ideally combines Greece and Russia; yet another ideal discussion “road” originates from the ancient Roman myths, runs through the 16th century and reaches the fin de siècle and the 20th century.

This unique volume focuses on religion and spirituality, along with rituals, practices and symbols, discussed and analysed from a semiotic perspective. It covers both cognitive and social dimensions of religious practices and beliefs, various aspects of spirituality, multiple forms of representation, as well as spheres of religious beliefs and practices. The volume is an outcome of the Signum-Idea-Verbum-Opus project initiated by Umberto Eco’s keynote address during his visit at the University of Łódź in 2015. More theoretical insights and further explorations into contemporary semiosphere can be found in Current Perspectives in Semiotics: Signs, Signification and Communication and Current Perspectives in Semiotics: Texts, Genres and Representations, published by Peter Lang.