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The Text within the TextAuthor(s): Yury M. Lotman, Jerry Leo, Amy MandelkerSource: PMLA, Vol. 109, No. 3 (May, 1994), pp. 377-384Published by: Modern Language AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/463074 .
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Yuy M. Lotman
h e e x t w i t i n t h e x t
YURY M. LOTMAN (1922-
93) was professor of Russian
literature at Tartu State Uni-
versity and the leading figure
in the Moscow-Tartu school of
semiotics, as well as an honor-
ary member of the Modern
Language Association. He is
best known for his work on
Pushkin, structuralism, and
the semiotics of Russian cul-
ture. He was the author of
fourteen books, includingThe
Structure f the ArtisticText,
Semioticsof Film, and The
Universeof the Mind,andof
hundredsof articles.
Translators'note. Thefirstfew pages of thisessay are notprintedhere.
In this omittedportion YuryLotman distinguishesbetween two major
functions of texts. Thefirst function is the adequate transmissionofinformation,and the second is the generation of new meanings. The
most desirable condition or thefirst function is the complete overlap
of codes betweensendersand receiversof messages. Since thissituation
is virtually impossible, an intermediaryis developed, which Lotman
terms the "text-code." The text-code, of which the Bible is the most
obvious example, serves an interpretiveand prescriptive role in the
transmissionof texts. The traditionallinguistic,structuralapproachto
analyzing texts, exemplifiedby VladimirPropp's Morphology of the
Folktale, often results in theconstructionof a text-code. Thelinguistic,structuralapproachpresupposesa closed set or system whoseelements
canproduce
aninfinite
seriesof
texts. In contrast, thesecondfunctionof texts suggests an immanent, literary approach that attempts to
situate texts within the confluenceof their contexts, antecedents, and
descendants.A text analyzed in its secondfunction will be notedfortheheterogeneity of its constituentelements,some of which orm "texts
within texts." In the remainder of this essay, presented here in its
entirety except for one elision, Lotman develops this approach,which
he associates with the work of Mikhail Bakhtin.
ATEXT IS a mechanism constituting a system of heteroge-neous semiotic spaces, in whose continuum the message
[associated with the first textual function] circulates. We do not
perceive this message to be the manifestation of a single language:a minimum of two languages is required to create it. No text of
the type I am interested in considering here can be adequately de-
scribed from the perspectiveof a singlelanguage.Either we may speakof continuous encoding by means of a double code-in which case,
"TheText withinthe Text" is a translationof "TeKc BTeKcTe, "whichappears n Tpy,bi
no 3HaKOBbIM CHCTeMaM (14 [1981]. 3-19), and is published here withpermission.
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TheText within he Text
readers perceive one or the other organization,
depending on their viewpoints-or we may note
the combination of general codifications, begin-ning with a dominant code and continuing with
local coding at the second, the third, and further
degrees. Under the latter conditions basic pro-cesses of codification that are usually uncon-
scious and, as a result, imperceptible emerge in
the sphere of structural consciousness and be-
come significant at the conscious level. Thus, in
Tolstoy's example the purity of a glass of water
becomes perceptible only because of the detritus
and chips that fall into the glass: the detritus is
the additional material included in the text that
elicits the basic underlying code-"purity"-from the sphere of the structural unconscious.
The play with meaning that arises in the text, the
slippage between the various kinds of structural
regularities,endows the text with greaterseman-
tic potential than have texts codified by means
of a single, separate language. Therefore, in its
second function the text is not a passive con-
tainer, a mere receptacle for content introduced
into it from the outside, but has itself become a
generator of further texts. The process of gen-eration not only expands structures but also
stimulates their interaction. The interaction of
the structuresin the closed [3aMKHyTbI]orld of
the text extends to become an effective mecha-
nism in the semiotics of a culture. A text of this
kind is always richer than any individual lan-
guage and is not automatically deducible from
a single language. This type of text is a semi-
otic space within which languages interact, inter-
fere with one another, and organize themselves
hierarchically.
If Propp's method is oriented toward theelaboration of a single text-code underlying a
plurality of texts-which are presented as a
bundle of variants of a single text-then Bakh-
tin's method, beginning with MapKCH3MH (|I1-
JIOcoHl4)I 3bIKa (Marxism and the Philosophyof
Language), is the opposite: not only is a singletext composed of various subtexts but, more to
the point, the subtexts are mutually untranslat-
able. The text is thus revealed to be internally in
conflict. In Propp's description the text tends
toward panchronic equilibrium:an examination
of narrative texts makes clear that, in essence,there is no movement in them, only an oscillation
around some homeostatic norm (equilibrium isviolated and then reestablished). In Bakhtin's
analysis inevitable action, change, and destruc-
tion are latent even in the stasisof the text. There-
fore, there is a plot [ciioxeT]even in instances
that would appear to be far removed from the
problems of plot [cioweT].The natural arena for
exploring the text is the folktale for Propp and
the novel and the drama for Bakhtin ....
When a text interacts with a heterogeneous
consciousness, new meanings are generated, and
as a result the text's immanent structure is re-
organized. There are a finite number of possi-bilities for such restructurations [perestroiki,
nepecTpoHKH],and this condition limits the life
of any text over the centuries and also delimits
the restructuration perestroika, nepecTpoHKa]f
a monument when cultural contexts change, as
well as restricting the arbitrary imposition of
meanings that lack formal means of expression.
Pragmatic links can materialize in peripheralor automatic structures but cannot introduce
into a text codes that are principally absent
from it. However, the destruction of texts and
their conversion into material for the creation of
new, derivative texts-from the construction of
medieval buildings on the foundations of an-
tique ruins to the creation of contemporary
plays "according to the motifs" of Shakespeare-are also a part of the process of culture.
Nevertheless, the pragmatic impulse cannot be
coerced for different kinds of reinterpretations
[nepeocMblcJIeHHa]f the text; this principlecon-
stitutes the active aspect of textual functioning
itself.As a generator of meaning, as a thinking
mechanism capable of working, the text needs
an interlocutor. This requirement reveals the
profoundly dialogic nature of consciousness. To
function, a consciousness requires another con-
sciousness-the text within the text, the culture
within the culture. The introduction of an exter-
nal text into the immanent world of another text
has far-reachingconsequences. The external text
is transformedin the structural field of the other
text's meaning, and a new message is created.
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Yuy M. Lotman
The transformation is made unpredictableby the
complexity of the components participating in
the textual interaction and by the multiplicity oftheir levels. However, the transformation occurs
not only within the entering text; the entire
semiotic situation inside the other text is also
changed. The introduction of an untranslatable,alien semiosis excites the "mother" text: atten-
tion shifts from the message to the language as
such and discovers the manifest nonhomoge-neous codification of the mother text. In these
conditions, the various subtexts that constitute
the mother text begin to differentiate and trans-
form themselves according to the new, alienlaws, producing new information. Removed
from semiotic equilibrium, a text becomes capa-ble of self-development. The powerful external
textual eruptions in a culture conceived of as a
huge text not only lead the culture to adaptoutside messages and to introduce them into its
memory but also stimulate the culture's self-
development, with unpredictable results.
Let us consider two examples of this process.The well-being of a child's intellectual apparatusin its initial state of
developmentdoes not
guar-antee that the child's consciousness will function
normally. The child must meet others and be
exposed to outside texts that stimulate its intel-
lectual development. A related example is the
"accelerated development" of a culture (Ga-
chev). A well-established, archaic culture is ca-
pable of remaining in a state of cyclic enclosure
and balanced immobility for an extraordinarily
long time. The irruptionof external texts into the
sphere of such a culture activates the mecha-
nisms of self-development. The greater the rup-ture and the more difficult it is to decipher the
intruding texts by recourse to the codes of the
mother text, the more dynamic will be the ulti-
mate condition of the culture.
Comparative study of the semantics of the
different "cultural explosions" in world historyreveals the simplistic nature of the conceptsestablished by Voltaire in his Essai sur les mours
et l'espritdes nations 'Essay on the Customs and
Spirit of Peoples' and by Condorcet in his Es-
quisse d'un tableau historique des progres de
l'esprithumain'Outlineof a Historical Picture of
the Progress of Human Reason' and further
developed by Hegel in his idea of the unifiedpath
of the world spirit. From these points of view,world cultures in all their diversity can be re-
duced either to different stages in the evolution
of a single universal reign of culture or to
"errors" that lead the mind into wilderness. In
the light of this observation, it seems natural that
"advanced" cultures should view "backward"
cultures as somewhat deficient, and the "back-
ward" culture's aspiration to catch up with the
"advanced"culture and assimilate into it is also
comprehensible. "Accelerated development" re-
duces the variety and complexity of world civi-lization and, as a result, diminishes it to a
monotonal Text; in other words, the process is
one of informational degradation. However, this
hypothesis is not confirmed by empirical reality:such a leveling does not take place in the course
of the cultural explosions in world history. What
does occur are processes that are diametrically
opposed to each other.
The dynamic condition of semiotic systems
presents a curious particularity.While a systemis
developing gradually,it
incorporates neigh-boring texts that are easily translatable into its
language. In moments of cultural (or, in general,
semiotic) explosion, the texts incorporated are
more distant and are untranslatable (or incom-
prehensible) from the point of view of the sys-tem. In these moments the more complex culture
does not always play the role of stimulus for the
more archaic one; the opposite tendency is also
possible. Thus in the twentieth century texts
from archaic and primitive cultures powerfully
erupted into European civilization, which conse-
quently displayed increasing dynamic excitation.
It is precisely the differences among cultural
potentials, the difficultiesin decipheringtexts bymeans of languages of existing cultures, that are
essential to bringingabout such transformations.
At the beginning of our era, for example, duringthe pagan adoption of Christianity, foreign texts
connected with Christian culture were incorpo-rated into a textual world that found them
inaccessible because of their culturalcomplexity.For the medieval civilizations of the Mediterra-
nean, however, the same texts were difficult to
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The Textwithin he Text
graspbecause the texts seemed primitive. In each
case the result was similar: the texts provoked a
powerful cultural explosion that ruptured aworld's infantile or senile stasis and inaugurateda state of dynamism.
Earlier we emphasized the typological differ-
ence between two ontological orientations: one
identifies a multitude of texts with a single Text,and the other transcribes the problem of the
diversity of codes within the text's borders, so
that the Text's stratification into texts becomes
an internal law. But this problem can also be
examined in its pragmatic aspect. Detailed ex-
amination of any civilizationwill reveal texts
of great complexity. Thus the auditor's prag-matic disposition contributes to whether a text's
Proppian or Bakhtinian aspect is activated.
This question is closely connected to the prob-lem of the text's relation to its cultural context.
Culture is not a chaotic collocation of texts but
a complex, hierarchical functioning system.
Every text inevitably appears in at least two
perspectives, two types of contexts, opposed on
the axis homogeneity-nonhomogeneity. Seen in
relation to other texts, the text seems homoge-neous with them, while from the other viewpoint,outside the system, it appears alien and incom-
prehensible. In the first case the text is located
on the syntagmatic axis, in the second on the
rhetorical axis. A rhetorical effect occurs when
one text is juxtaposed with another that is
semiotically nonhomogeneous with it. Meaningis formed as much by the interaction between
semiotically heterogeneous, mutuallyuntranslat-
able layers of the text as by the complex conflicts
of meaning between the text and its context. Just
as the artistic text tends toward polyglotism, soits artistic and general cultural contexts cannot
be monologic. Because any cultural context is
complex, its constitutive texts must be exam-
ined equally on the syntagmatic and on the rhe-
torical axes. It is the juxtaposition of these axes
that brings the semiotic structure of uncon-
scious mechanisms into the sphere of conscious
semiotic creation. The problem of the diverse
juxtapositions of heterogeneous texts posed ac-
curately in the art and culture of the twentieth
century is, in reality, one of the most ancientissues at the center of the theme "the text within
the text."1 Neo-rhetoric, of intensifying interest
in contemporary scholarship, is a related area of
investigation.
The text within the text is a specific rhetorical
construction in which the determining factor in
the author's construction of the text and in the
reader'sreception of it is the differentialcodifica-
tion of various parts of the text. The transition
from a semiotic system of textual comprehensionto a system of internal structural boundaries
constitutes the basis for the generation of mean-
ing. This condition, above all, intensifies the
moment ofplay
in the text: from an alternative
mode of codification the text acquires features
of a more sophisticated conventionality, and the
text's ludic character is accentuated-its ironic,
parodic, theatrical, and other such meanings.
Simultaneously, the role of the text's boundaries
is highlighted-both the external boundaries
separating the text from the nontext and the
internal ones demarcating different levels of
codification. The boundaries are mobile: shifts
in the text's orientation [ycTaHoBKa]oward one
or another code result in changes in the bounda-
ries' structures as well. For example, proceedingfrom the well-established tradition that defines
the pedestal of the sculpture or the frame of the
painting as nontext, the art of the baroqueepochintroduces these components into the text, con-
verting the pedestal into a stone, for instance,and by means of plot [cioxeTHo] conjoining it
with a figureinto a single composition. Includingthe pedestal or frame in the text intensifies the
ludic moment because the conventionality of
these elements also keeps them excluded, distinct
from what is inherent in the basic text. Whenthe figures of a baroque sculpture climb on the
pedestal or descend from it or when figures in a
painting leap down from the frame, the effect is
to emphasize rather than to obscure the fact that
one element belongs to material reality while the
other belongs to artistic reality. A similar playwith observers' perceptions of alternative reali-
ties occurs when theatrical action descends from
the stage into the real, everyday space of the
auditorium.
Play between the real and the conventional isan integralpartof any occurrenceof a text within
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Yuy M. Lotman
a text. In the simplest occurrence the included
section is encoded in the same way as the remain-
ing text and thus is doubly coded. Examples area paintingwithin a painting, a play within a play,a film within a film, and a novel within a novel.
The delineated section is doubly encoded in
accordancewith identifiableartisticconventions,and therefore it encourages the perception of the
remaining space of the text as real. Thus Hamlet
offers not merely a text within a text but also
Hamlet within Hamlet. The play performed on
Hamlet's initiative reiterates in a markedly con-
ventional manner the play composed by Shake-
speare: first the pantomime, then the distinctlyconventional rhymed monologues, interrupted
by the prosaic remarks of the audience-Ham-
let, the king, the queen, and Ophelia. The con-
ventionality of Hamlet's play emphasizes the
reality of Shakespeare's.2 To accentuate this
response in the reader, Shakespeare introduced
metatextual elements: the director of the play
appears before us on the stage. In a scene
anticipating Federico Fellini's 8/2, Hamlet issues
instructions to the actors, directing their per-
formance. Shakespeare thus stages not only aplay but, more important, a theatrical rehearsal.
Duplication is the most simple aspect of the
coded organization and the structural construc-
tions of consciousness. It is no accident that
myths of the genesis of the arts share a basis
in duplication: rhythm from the echo, paint-
ing from the use of coal to outline shadows on
rock, and so forth. In painting and cinematogra-
phy the mirror is the most common instrument
for creating localized subtexts by duplicating
patterns.It is essential to recognize, however, that du-
plication by means of a mirror is almost never
simple replication. Rather, the right-left axis is
reversed, or, even more frequently,a perpendicu-lar axis is superimposed on the canvas or screen,
creating a dimension or viewpoint outside the
surface. In Velazquez's painting Venus and Cu-
pid, besides the viewpoint of the observer, whosees Venus from behind, an additional perspec-tive is added, directed on Venus's face, visible in
the depths of the mirror. In Jan van Eyck's
Portrait of theBankerArnolfiniand His Wife theeffect is even more complicated: the mirrorhang-
ing in the background reflects from behind the
backs of Arnolfini and his wife (who face the
viewer) and also shows the guests they are greet-ing, who enter from the side of the viewer's
perspective.From the depths of the mirrora gazeis projected that is perpendicular to the canvas
(meeting the gaze of the viewer) and that tra-
verses the boundaries of the painting's actual
space. Mirrors in baroque interiors often playedthe same role, refracting the architecturalspace
by creating an illusory infinity: the reflection of
a mirror in a mirror, the duplication of space
through the reflection of a painting in mirrors,3
or the fragmentation of internal and externalboundaries through the reflection of windows in
mirrors.
The mirror can fulfill another function, how-
ever. In duplicating, the mirror deforms, and
thus it reveals how its representation,apparently
natural, is in fact a projection using a specific
modeling language. The mirror in van Eyck's
painting is convex (see the portrait of Hans
Burgkmayrand his wife painted by Lucas Fur-
tenagle, in which the wife holds a convex mirror
almost at a right angle to the surface of thecanvas, acutely deforming the reflections): Ar-
nolfini and his wife are not only shown from the
front and the back but also projected onto both
sphericaland flat surfaces.In Luchino Visconti's
film Senso (The Wanton Countess)the heroine,immobile and passionless, is juxtaposed to her
dynamic reflection in a mirror. See also the
fragmenting effect of reflection in a broken mir-
ror in two other films, Henri-Georges Clouzot's
Le corbeau(The Raven) and Marcel Carne's Le
jourse leve
(Daybreak).The widespread literary mythology of reflec-
tions in mirrors and of a world "through the
looking glass" can be seen as evolving from
archaic beliefs about mirrors as windows into a
world beyond. A literaryequivalentof the mirror
motif is the theme of the double. Justas the world
through the looking glass is an estranged model
of the ordinaryworld, the double is an estrangedreflection of a person. An image of someone
altered according to the rules of specular reflec-
tion (enantiomorphism), the double appears as
a combination of features that preserve an in-variant identity while having been rearranged.
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7lheTextwithin he Text
Applying the concept of right-left symmetry
permits an exceptionally broad range of inter-
pretations-the corpse is the double of the liv-ing, nonmatter of matter, ugliness of beauty, the
criminal of the saintly, the insignificant of the
great, and so forth-establishing a wide field of
possibilities for artistic modeling.The signifying nature of the artistic text is
dual. On the one hand, the text acquires an
autonomous existence, independent of the
author, and thus becomes a real thing, amongthe things of the real world. On the other hand,the text continuously reminds us that it is the
creation of someone andsignifies something.This duality illuminates the play of realityversus
fiction in the semantic field that Pushkin charac-
terized by the words "Haa BbIMbICJIOM ie3aMLI
o6oJIbIOCb" 'Brought to tears over an invention.'
The rhetorical union of things with the signs of
things (collage) in a textual unity produces a
doubled effect, simultaneouslyemphasizingboth
the conventionality and the absolute authenticityof the artifice. As indications that the text deals
with realia (taken from the external world and
not the handiwork of the author), documents of
indubitable authenticity may be incorporated.For example, topical paintings may be inserted
in a film (see Andrey Tarkovsky's 3epKajio Mir-
ror]). Pushkin, in Ay6poBcKoro (Dubrovsky),
presents the documents of a complete, authentic
eighteenth-centurycourt case, changing only the
proper names. In more complicated instances a
factual subtext may be deauthenticated by an
impression of authenticity derived from another
source. Nonetheless, the function of the authen-
tic subtext within the rhetorical unity of the text
is to create the semblance of reality.Mikhail Bulgakov's novel MacTep H Map-
rapHTa (The Master and Margarita) is con-
structed of two interwoven autonomous texts.One recounts events unfolding in the Moscow ofthe author's time, and the other relates events
taking place in ancient Jerusalem. The Moscowtext uses all the indicators of reality; these chap-ters, filled with authentic details familiar to the
reader, have an everyday flavor and present adirect extension of the reader's contemporary
world. The Moscow material is offered as a givenprimary text and is neutral in tone. By contrast,
the chapters recounting events in Jerusalemcon-
sistently maintain the character of a text within
a text. If the first text is Bulgakov's creation, thesecond is created by the novel's heroes. The
irreality of the second text is emphasized bymetatextual discussions of how it should be
composed-for example, this comment: Jesus"HaCaMOMeJie HHIKoraaHe 6biIO B)KHBbIX.OT
Ha 3TO-TOH HyICHOAeiaTb rJiaBHbIHnop" 'in
fact was neveramong the living. We cannot placetoo great an emphasis on this fact' (426). If the
tendency of the first text is to prove that it has a
real denotatum, the second text demonstratively
asserts that its own denotata do not exist. Thistechnique receives a sustained development inthe chapters on Jerusalem-first Woland's nar-
rative, then the Master's novel; by these means,the Moscow chapters appear to present a visible
reality while the Jerusalem chapters represent a
narrative that must be heard or read. The Jeru-
salem chapters are invariably introduced by the
endings of the Moscow chapters,which thus also
become beginnings, emphasizing the secondarynature of what follows: "3aroBopHui erpoMKo,
npHHeMero aKueHTrnoqeMy-TOnponai:- Bce
npocTo: B 6ejIoMnae . . . B 6ejioM niaiwe
c KpoBaBbIMnoa6oeM, mapKaioimei Kasajie-
PHHCKOHIOXOAKOi . . BbIIIenj npoKypaTop
HiyaenIoHTHHIlHnJaT"He spoke softly, and
therefore his foreign accent was somehow less
noticeable. It all happened very simply: In a
white robe. .. .' (Here the first chapter ends and
the second begins.) 'In a white robe with a
bloodred lining, shuffling along like a cavalry-man... the procuratorof Judea, Pontius Pilate,
emerged' (435; firstellipsis in orig.). The chapter
"Ka3Hb""Punishment") s introduced as Ivan'sdream:4"ueMy CTaJo CHHITbCA,TO COnHHueceCHHIKaJIocbHaAJbIcoH rFopohi,H 6bijia 3Ta ropaouenieHa ABOHHbIMueneHmeM . . . Cojmue
yce CHHMIaJiocbaa JIbcoi rFopoii, H 6biia 3Ta
ropa ouernIeHa ABOHHbIMuenJIeHHeM" and he
began to dream that the sun was already sinkingover Bald Mountain, and the mountain wasencircled by a double cordon . .' (Chapter 15
ends, and chapter 16 begins.) 'The sun was
already sinking over Bald Mountain, and the
mountain was encircled by a double cordon'(587-88; ellipsis in orig.). Furtheron, the text on
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YuryM. Lotman
Jerusalem is introduced as the Master's compo-sition: "XOTS6bI Ao caMoro paccBeTa, MorJia
MaprapHTa imejecTeTb JICTaMH TeTpagei,
pa3rFJISI,bIBaTbHX H leJIOBaTb H nepemH-TbIBaTb cIosBa:-TbMa, npHiimeamaa o Cpe-JHI3eMHOrOMOpA, HaKpbIJia HeHaBHMHMbIH
npoKypaTopoM opo ... a, TbMa .. TbMa,
npHImeamaao CpeAIH3eMHoroOpa,HaKpbijiaHeHaBHMHMbMIipoKypaTopoM opoa" 'even un-
til the break of day, Margaritawould gladlyhave continued o rustle the pagesof the note-
book, would not tire of glancingthroughthe
pages, kissing them, and rereading he words
"Thegloomytwilight manatingromthe Medi-terraneandarkened the town the procuratorhated .. ." Yes, gloom . . .' (Chapter 24 ends,and chapter25 begins.) 'The gloomy twilightemanatingromtheMediterraneanarkened hetown the procuratorhated' (714; ellipses in
orig.).Once the distinctionbetween he real andthe
unreal is established, however, the reader's iner-
tia is disturbedby the game of redeterminingthe
boundaries etween hesetwospheres.The most
fantasticeventstakeplacein the Moscowworld(the"real"world),while the "imaginary" orldof theMaster'snovel s constructed ccordingostrictrulesof verisimilitude f theeveryday.Onthe level at whichelementsof the plot [cimeT]interrelate,he allocationof the qualitiesof realand irreal is the reverse of what it was before. In
addition, elements of metatextual commentaryare introduced into the Moscow plot line, albeit
rarely, creating the following scheme: the author
relates his heroes' adventures, and his heroes in
turn tell thehistory
of Jeshua and Pilate: "3a
MHOH,IHITaTeJIb TOCKa3aJITe6e, qTOHeT Ha
BeTeHacToAiiieH,sepHoH, BseHO JIno6rBH?" Get
thee behind me, reader Who told you that trueeternal ove doesnot exist on earth?' 632).
Finally,the storywithinthestory,in its ideo-
philosophicalmplications,offersBulgakovthe
opportunitynot onlyto distancereality hroughliteraryplay (as JanPotocki,for example,doesin Tales rom theSaragossaManuscript)but also,in a more profound sense, to transcend the
nitty-gritty uperficiality f the ephemeralreal
world and to ascendto the authentic ssenceofworld mystery. Specularity exists between the
two texts, but whatever appears to be a real
object turns out to be only the deformed reflec-
tion of something hat was itself a reflection.The essentialand most traditionalmeansof
textually ncoding hetoricalombinationss the
compositionalrame.A normal that s, neutral)construction s based, in part, on the fact thatthe framingof the text (the frameof a picture,the bindingof a book or the publisher'snfor-mation on the back, a singer's coughing before
an aria, tuning of instruments by an orchestra,the words"Now, listen"before an oral narra-
tion, and so forth) is extraneousto the text.
Locatedoutside he text'sboundaries,heframewarns of the initiation of the text. The frame
beginsto intrude nto the text as the auditor'sattentionshiftsto informationabout the code.Even morecomplicated recases where he textand its frameareinterwoven, o that eachbothframesandis framed.5
Anotherpossibleconstructions thepresenta-tion of one text as an uninterrupted ccountwhilea second s introducedntoit in fragments,suchas citations,references, pigraphs, ndthe
like.Presumablyhereaderunites hefragmentsinto whole texts. Otherinsertionsof this typemay be read both as belonging to the text
surroundinghemandas divergentrom it. Themorethe code of the text inseminationorfrag-ment]appearsuntranslatable ccording o thecode of the surrounding ext, the more thesemioticelementsof eachare madeperceptible.
Double or multiplecodifications f the entiretextaresimilarlymultifunctional.We must rec-
ognizethe instanceswhere the theaterencodesthe
day-to-daybehaviorof individuals, rans-forming it into "history,"while a "historicalevent" s considered naturalsubject or paint-ing.6And in some cases,whendistantand de-
pendent untranslatable codes are broughttogether,herhetorical-semioticoment smore
heavilystressed.Thus, in the 1950s,during he
height of the excitementover neorealismandafterproducingLa terra remaTheEarthTrem-
bles,' Visconti demonstrativelypromulgatedSenso through the operatic code. As the basic
generalcode of two different trata,he presentsframes n whicha livingactor Franz)smountedinsidea Renaissance resco.
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The Text within the Text
Culturein its entirety may be considered a text
-a complexly structured text, divided into a
hierarchy of intricately interconnected textswithin texts. To the extent that the word text is
etymologically linked to weaving, the term's
original sense has been restored.
dreaming of him dying. The repetition of the first stanza as
the last creates a space that can be representedas a Mobius
strip, one side of which signifies the dream and the other
reality.
5On figures of interweaving see Shubnikov and Kopchik17-18.
6SeeLotman; Francastel 211-38.
Works Cited
Notes
1Seethe work of M, Drozda, dedicated to the problem of
the European avant-garde.2Thecharactersin Hamlet watching the theatricality of the
comedians suspend their disbelief and thus become trans-
formed into an extratheatrical public. This explains their
transition into prose speech and emphasizes Hamlet's ob-
scene remarks,which recall the comments of the audiencein
Shakespeare'stime. In fact, there emergesnot only a theater
within the theater but also an audience within the audience.
To convey this effect adequately to modern theatergoers,the
hero at that moment should remove his makeup and sit with
them, so that the stage is yielded to the comedians playingThe Mouse-trap and his remarks seem to come from the
public.3Derzhavin writes: "KapTHHbI B 3epKanax AbImarm,
MycCa, MpaMop H 4ap()op . . ." 'Paintings in mirrors
breathed, / Musia, marble, and porcelain . . .' (213).4A dream inside a novella is a traditional kind of text
within a text. Greatercomplexity is apparent in Lermontov's
"COH"("Dream"; "BrnojnHeBHbIniap B aoJIHHe A[are-cTaHa . ." 'In the noonday heat in the distance of Dage-stan ...'), where the dying hero sees in his dream the heroine
Bulgakov, Mikhail. MacTep MaprapHTa The Master and
Margarita]. PoMaHbI:Bejna rsapmWa-TeaTpaJTbHbIH
poMaH-MacTepHMaprapHTa Novels: WhiteGuard,A
TheatricalNovel, The Master and Margarita]. Moskva:
Khudozhestvennaia, 1973.Derzhavin, Gavriil R. "BeJmMoxca" A Grandee]. CTH-
xoTBopeHHa [Verses].Leningrad:Sovetskiipisatel', 1957.
210-18.
Francastel, Pierre. La realit figurative. Gonthier, 1965.
Gachev, Georgy. )KX3Hb xyoaoecTBcHHoro co3HaHHa:
OqepKH o HCTOPHHo6pa3a [The Life of Artistic Con-
sciousness: Observations on the History of the Image].Moskva: Iskusstvo, 1981.
Lotman, Iurii.CTaTbHo ceMHOTHKei THHnoIorHHKyJIbTypbI
[Essays on Semiotics and the Typology of Culture].Tallinn:Aleksandra, 1992. Vol. 2 of M36paHHbIeTaTbH
B TpeX TOMaX [Collected Essays in Three Volumes].
Shubnikov, A. V., and V. A. Kopchik. CHMMeTpAISHayKeHHCKyccTBeSymmetryin Science and Art]. 1972.
Translated by
Jerry Leo and Amy Mandelker
GraduateCenter
City University of New York
384