Global Semiotics:

Description

"The study of semiotics underwent a gradual but radical paradigm shift during the past century, from a glottocentric (language-centered) enterprise to one that encompasses the whole terrestrial biosphere. In this collection of 17 essays, Thomas A. Sebeok, one of the seminal thinkers in the field, shows how this progression took place. His wide-ranging discussion of the evolution of the field covers many facets, including discussions of biosemiotics, semiotics as a bridge between the humanities and the natural sciences, semiosis, nonverbal communication, cat and horse behavior, the semiotic self, and women in semiotics. This thorough account will appeal to seasoned scholars and neophytes alike."--BOOK JACKET.

First Sentence

WHEN THE PLAYER who enacted Prospero in 1611 (or thereabouts) famously recited the expression "the great globe itself" in The Tempest (act 4, scene 1), his audience was aware that the subject of Shakespeare's phrase was at least doubly denotative: planetary in its habitual, most sweeping sense, but insularly provincial in the context of that London production, pointing to the famous polygonal edifice on the south bank of the Thames that Shakespeare called the "Wooden O," wherein that actual performance was taking place: the Globe.

Subjects