Universe of the Mind

Part 1 The text as a meaning-generating mechanism: three functions of the text; autocommunication - "I" and "other" as addressees; rhetoric as a mechanism for meaning-generation; iconic rhetoric; the text as process of movement - author to audience, author to text; the symbols as plot-gene; the symbol in the cultural system. Part 2 The semiosphere: semiotic space; the notion of boundary; dialogue mechanisms; the semiosphere and the problem of plot; symbolic spaces - geographical space in Russian mediaeval texts, the journeys of Ulysses in Dante's "Divine Comedy", the "home" in Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita", the symbolism of St. Petersburg; some conclusions. Part 3 Cultural memory, history and semiotics: the problem of the historical fact; historical laws and the structure of the text; an alternative -culture without literacy or culture before culture?; the role of typological symbols in the history of culture; can there be a science of history and what are its functions in the cultural system?; conclusion.