Theories of the Symbol: Understanding Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture - Hardcover

"Todorov has always had a talent for providing useful books, and here, as always, he is extremely clear.... This is one of his better books, presenting a variety of information with clarity and intelligence."

""Theories of the Symbol initiates a major methodological return: the move away from structuralist-semiotic tendencies to other forms of literary philosophy and history. It is this change of critical terrain which no doubt will direct us toward redefining and determining the future modes of literary theory. On this point, Todorov is, as usual, ahead of the game." --Modern Language Notes"

"This very good translation is the most important study of symbolism to appear in English since Angus Fletcher's Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode. A learned and far-reaching book."

Focusing on theories of verbal symbolism, Tzvetan Todorov here presents a history of semiotics. From an account of the semiotic doctrines embodied in the works of classical rhetoric to an exploration of representative modern concepts of the symbol found in ethnology, psychoanalysis, linguistics, and poetics, Todorov examines the rich tradition of sign theory. In the course of his discussion Todorov treats the works of such writers as Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Augustine, Condillac, Lessing, Diderot, Goethe, Novalis, the Schlegel brothers, Levy-Bruhl, Freud, Saussure, and Jakobson.