Yuri Lotman was one of the most prominent and influential scholars of the twentieth century working in the Soviet Union. This collection provides a stand-alone primer to his intellectual legacy in both semiotics and cultural history. It includes new translations of some of his major pieces as well as works that have never been published in English.

IntroductionTranslator's NotePART ONE: SEMIOTICS1. From Universe of the MindAutocommunication: "I" and "Other" as AddresseesSemiotic SpaceThe Idea of Boundary2. From The Structure of the Artistic Text "Noise" and Artistic InformationThe Problem of Plot3. From Culture and ExplosionThe Interrupted and the UninterruptedPerspectivesInstead of Conclusions4. Memory in a Culturological Light5. The Language of TheaterPART TWO: CULTURAL HISTORY6. The Role of Dual Models in the Dynamics of Russian CultureThe Symbolism of Petersburg and the Problems of Semiotics of the CityThe DuelA Woman's WorldNotes

“This book makes it possible to perceive the deep level of Lotman’s thought, where the roots of its integrity are hidden, as well as its categorial structuring of the world and history, which underlies his semiotics of culture. In Lotman’s system two primary languages are discovered—the natural language used in everyday communication and the structural model of space. In its own cultural space each culture has the means to describe itself, and the richer a culture is, the more it possesses descriptive languages—from everyday speech and rituals to written language and languages of literature, arts, cinema, theatre, music, media, and so forth. Every act of communication in culture can be interpreted at a more general level as autocommunication. Lotman teaches how culture repeats messages, supports memory and self-understanding via textual activity, and guarantees a balance between knowledge, memory and conscience.”—Peeter Torop, Professor of Semiotics of Culture, University of Tartu