Semiotics at the Circus

Paul Bouissac

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English

De Gruyter Mouton
15 June 2010

Circus; Communication studies; Semiotics & semiology

Series: Semiotics, Communication and Cognition [SCC]

Semiotics is long on theoretical, often obscure discourses, but short on applications that demonstrate with clarity the applicability of its methods. This book confronts a challenging object, the circus, and endeavors to describe its performances in ways that explain how circus acts produce meaning and cause a deep emotional involvement for their audiences. The approach is not top-down, such as would be a method that would dogmatically apply a particular theory to fully explain the phenomena in terms of this theory alone. Epistemologically, this book is an example of the bottom-up strategy, which consists of considering first the objects and heuristically calling upon methodological resources in a broad theoretical array to come to grips with the problems that are encountered. Any circus act is a complex event that has cognitive and emotional dimensions. It is also a part of a history and an institution, and cannot be abstracted from its cultural and sociological contexts. Thus the range of relevant theoretical and methodological approaches must include structural semiotics, biosemiotics, pragmatics, socio-semiotics, cultural anthropology, the cognitive sciences, the psychology and sociology of emotions, to name only the most important. But the ultimate focus of this book is to enable the readers to better understand the meaning of circus performances and to appreciate the skills and creativity of this traditional popular art, which constantly renews itself from generation to generation.

By: Paul Bouissac
Imprint: De Gruyter Mouton
Country of Publication: Germany
Volume: 3
Dimensions: Height: 230mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 435g
ISBN: 9783110218299
ISBN 10: 3110218291
Series: Semiotics, Communication and Cognition [SCC]
Pages: 205
Publication Date: 15 June 2010
Recommended Age: College Graduate Student
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Further / Higher Education , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul Bouissac, University of Toronto, Canada.