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Resort on the Outskirts: Towards the Premises of the Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School
The so-called Moscow-Tartu Semiotic School as a cultural project was very sensitive to its location. It owes to the qualities of the participants as well as of the place, that is to be observed in the paper. The domestic series Trudy po znakovym sistemam (Sign Systems Studies) had been published in 1964-1992, then has redesigned as English edition in 1996. Indeed, the dominant language of 25 volumes published in 1964-1992 was Russian. Indeed, the textual corpus is not homogenous. Its evolution coincides with the Soviet intellectual history. 25 volumes match to the last 25 years of the Soviet state and incarnate its main scientific, cultural and social tendencies. The history of so-called “classical” Trudy… divides into 3 periods. The first is usually called “Sturm und Drang” of the Soviet Structuralism and demonstrates universal abilities of semiotic method. The second period could be interpreted as a “normal science” (in terms of Th. S. Kuhn) adjusted for growing ideological pressing of the 1970s (the so-called zastoi ‘or stagnation’ in the Soviet history). The third period is signed by separation of methods and/or productive diversity of semiotics. The final crisis of Russian period of Tartu school was due to Yuri Lotman’s success and popularization. This process coincided with the end of the Soviet Union. The paper examines the preconditions and structure of humanitarian proceedings on the Western margins of the Soviet Empire.