Abstract
The word “symbol” is one of the most polysemous in the system of semiotics-related fields. The expression “symbolic meaning” is widely used as a simple synonym of signification. In cases where there is some kind of relationship between expression and content or when the arbitrariness of that relationship is highlighted in a given context, scholars often speak of a symbolic function and of symbols. At the same time, Saussure contrasted symbols to conventional signs, stressing the iconic nature of the former.
Originally published as “Simvol v sisteme kul’tury,” Trudy po znakovym sistemam 21, 1987: 10–21. The translation here is from Iurii Lotman, Izbrannye stat’i. Vol. 1: Stat’i po semiotike i tipologii kul’tury, 191–199. Tallinn: Aleksandra, 1992.
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Notes
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Dostoevsky ’s creative thinking is fundamentally heterogeneous. Alongside “symbolic” meaning-making, other modes of reading are implied. Journalism and news reports, as well as many other things, enter into his language, as ideally manifested in his Diary of a Writer. We are concentrating on the “symbolic” layer as it relates to the topic of this article not because it constitutes the only layer in this author’s literary world.
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According to the Petr Alekseev, “Elders in the Scriptures refer not to the individuals’ age but to their elevated station” (Alekseev 1819, 162).
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Consider Dostoevsky’s claim in the article “Apropos of the Exhibition” (1873) that reality is accessible to a person only as the symbolic signification of an idea and not in the form of reality “as it is,” for “there is no such reality, never has been because, to man, the substance of things in inaccessible, while he apperceives nature as it reflects itself in his idea after having passes through his senses” (Dostoevsky 1985, 83).
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Lotman, J. (2019). The Symbol in the System of Culture. In: Tamm, M. (eds) Juri Lotman - Culture, Memory and History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14710-5_12
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