(Re)cosindering Roman Jakobson

This book was initiated by a graduate course of Elin Sütiste about semiotics of Roman Jakobson (1896–1982), given in the Department of Semiotics, University of Tartu. The contributions include articles by the doctoral students as well as co-lectures, visiting scholars and colleagues. These seminars affirmed that Jakobson was truly an ambitious, forward-thinking scholar who exerted himself to establish semiotics as a discipline. Though Jakobson identified himself as a philologist, he played a pivotal role in the development and institutionalization of semiotics. Jakobson’s ability to grasp the potential of new ideas and to inspire others was remarkable. Juri Lotman has commented that “Wherever his fate of a mid-20th-century man took him, everywhere Jakobson attracted a group of scientists that soon grew into a scientific centre of global importance”. Exploring specific points of relevance to contemporary semiotics found in Jakobson’s work is the aim of this volume, and each of the 13 essays approaches the intersection differently.