Juri Lotman (1922–1993)

There aren't very many English translations of the works of cultural semiotician Yuri M. Lotman (1922-1993) who spent the majority of his working life at Estonia's University of Tartu where the relative remove from the central locations of Soviet power gave him some freedom of study and independence, certainly enough to make him an especially well respected international figure in his field.

His "Non-Memoirs' were dictated in the last year of his life but were based around anecdotes that he show more told many times to students and colleagues. This is a non-memoir in the sense that it is really just a few anecdotes and episodes from his days in an artillery battalion during WWII and then about his life and academic career in at first Leningrad and later Tartu. Of the book's 110 pages, only 67 are Lotman's own with the rest consisting of Notes and Translator's Introduction and Afterword. This might seem like small-measure but the anecdotes have been sharpened over time and are quite entertaining and often very funny.

Along the way you'll learn a sure-fire lice removal method used in the army, about the time Alexander Solzhenitsyn showed up at Lotman's door with the intention of punching him in the mouth (Lotman had inadvertently introduced Mikhail Bulgakov's widow to a student who turned out to be a kleptomaniac and who had purloined the only existing manuscript copy of The Master and Margarita, A.S. showed up to make indirect retribution - fortunately Lotman had already arranged for the return of the manuscript in the meantime) and you learn how Lotman won over his future wife despite her leaving him at their first meeting muttering "scum with a mustache." And yes, semiotics are scattered throughout, even in the nuances of the words "scram" vs. "retreat" from the days of the Soviet army.

As an introduction to Lotman and his work, but also to knowing why he was so beloved, this is ideal. show less

Life tried to crush him, and in his soul, he would transform it into a world permeated with dramatism and harmony and enlightened by the wise clarity of its author’s eye. […]There was no “calm and freedom,” and it appears as though everything was conspiring against Pushkin, but the drive of creative energy was more powerful than any external circumstances and transformed them. from Pushkin: A Writer’s Biography by Yuri Lotman

It is the perfect time to consider how Alexander Pushkin, show more Russia’s greatest poet, forged his creative life under censorship, exile, an outbreak of plague that required social isolation, and continued scrutiny, living during a time of political conflict with rising challenges to the Tsar’s authoritarianism.

Lotman shows how the young poet Pushkin curated a persona to fit into the icon of Romantic poet, becoming a leader in the movement in Russia, but later in life turned to realism. He shows how Pushkin took a middle road politically, friends with Decembrists, but hoped that Nicholas I would lead the country to be more democratic. Lotman draws from Pushkin’s works and letters to bolster his argument.

Pushkin had a colorful life. His great-grandfather was a black African favored by Peter the Great; he became a military hero. Pushkin drew inspiration from Russian folklore and the lives of ordinary people. He loved society and gambling and women. He married a beautiful woman and died at age 37 in a duel to protect her honor.

Yuri Lotman was Russia’s foremost literary scholar, his iconic work now in English translation.

This scholarly work is not a typical biography, although Pushkin’s entire life is covered, nor is it narrative nonfiction. The focus is on how his life and times impacted Pushkin and how he developed as an artist. I read it slowly, challenged by details of history new to me. It is a rewarding read, and an inspirational story.

Pushkin’s proud cognizance of the idea that spirit and culture accord immortality, and not power and force, served as the foundation of his “I erected a monument for myself not built by hands”–his poetic final will and testament. from Pushkin: A Writer’s Biography by Yuri Lotman

Thanks to the publisher for a free book. show less

"Беседы о русской культуре" — уникальный труд, посвященный жизни русского дворянства XVIII — начала XIX века. Написанная увлекательным и доступным даже неподготовленному читателю языком, книга открывает перед нами завораживающий мир чинов, балов, карточных игр, дуэлей, show more политических интриг и, наконец, взаимоотношений людей ушедших эпох — мир особого культурного кода, без которого невозможно понять классическую отечественную литературу, многие важные вехи истории России, наше прошлое и, следовательно, наше будущее.Работа была подготовлена Лотманом на основе авторских телевизионных лекций, читавшихся им в конце 1980-х годов. show less

Jurij M. Lotman y Boris A. Uspenskij,
" Sobre el mecanismo semiótico de la cultura"
en Jurij M. Lotman y la Escuela de Tartu, Semiótica de la cultura, Ed. Cátedra, Madrid, 1979. Págs. 67-92. (Extracto y resumen del Prof. Jaime Moreno Garrido).