Literary Semiotics : A Critical Approach

Scott Simpkins' revisionist work scrutinizes the conflicting views on sign theory to identify areas of development in semiotic thought and practice. He offers an evaluation of semiotics' most influential commentators, focusing mainly on Umberto Eco.

Literary Semiotics brings much needed revitalization to the conservatism of modern semiotic theory. Scott Simpkins'' revisionist work scrutinizes the conflicting views on sign theory to identify new areas of development in semiotic thought and practice, particularly in relation to literary theory. Focusing on the idea of semiotics as a "conversation" about sign theory and practice, Simpkins principally looks at the work of Umberto Eco, while giving secondary attention to some of semiotics'' most influential commentators: including Deleuze and Guattari, Lyotard, Foucault, Barthes, Kristeva, and Derrida. As an engaged interrogation of the restraints on the practice of semiotics, Literary Semiotics is a provocative study for semioticians, literary theorists, and scholars of cultural studies and a resource for students seeking a probing examination of the theory of signs.