A. J. Greimas in the world: travels, translations, transmissions

Abstract

This essay adopts a semiotic perspective focused on practices of communication, movement, and translation to examine the global impact of A. J. Greimas (1917–1992) and his oeuvre. The linguist and semiotician’s lecture trips abroad, the number and provenance of international students in his Paris seminar, and the chronology and linguistic geography of translations of his work help describe, gauge, and explain the dissemination and development of his ideas throughout the world. His project has engendered distinctive appropriations and at times productive institutional structures in a number of cultural and linguistic contexts, notably Romance, Anglo-American, Germanic, Russian, Lithuanian, and Chinese. The broader historical relations between France and other lands, and the extent of each society’s use of the French language have conditioned, fostered, or impeded responses to his proposals. The conclusion’s discussion of the relative importance of personal contacts, socio-historical context, and the sociolinguistic and pedagogical status of French for his international reception aims to contribute to general methodological debates in the history of science and ideas and in transnational history.

Semiotics 2021: The year in review

“…In his essay on Algirdas Julien Greimas (1917Greimas ( -1992, Thomas F. Broden (2021) provides an intellectual and historical overview of Greimas' semiotic contributions through various sources and the means by which his ideas have been disseminated world-wide. Broden (2021: 189) addresses the diffusion and localization of ideas when he cites James A.…”