Poetics of Expressiveness

Book excerpt: The volume presents for the first time in book form in English the work of two major representatives of the so-called Moscow-Tartu school. The Introduction outlines their project for a poetics of expressiveness against the background of the structural-semiotic movement of the '60s and '70s. Part I is a systematic exposition of the theory, concentrating on the concepts of theme, expressive device, poetic world, etc. Part II and III apply these concepts to a structuralist portrayal of Leo Tolstoy's tales for children (shown to be A War and Peace in miniature) and of the medieval Latin author Archpoet of Cologne (with special emphasis on his Mock Penitent). The volume is provided with a Bibliography of the poetics of expressiveness and a Glossary of its metalanguage.