The Semiotic Square As A Structural Pattern In Singer's Novels

From the linguistic and logical point of view, semiotics represented by Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Peirce is usually defined as the study of signs. With the development of the study, modem semiotics has in fact become the study of the system of signs, which enables human beings to perceive certain events or entities as a whole sign, bearing meaning. It has an interface with literature and serves as a method for literary interpretation. Under the semiotic interpretation, a literary text is not simply a set of words but a network of certain systems of communication. The study has further interrelated with French structuralist narratology. Algirdas Julien Greimas, a French semiotician, makes an organic combination across the two fields. He is concerned with establishing elementary structures of meaning with a semiotic micro-universe.Greimas' semiotic theory seeks to account for the articulation and the narration of the semantic universe as a totality of meaning. The object of semiotics, to Greimas, is the process of transformation, which is the production of meaning. The system of different levels of structures to Greimas is "a hierarchy that can be subjected to analysis and the elements of which can be determined by relations or by communication" (Greimas Studies 1990). He adopts semiological method in his structuralistnarratology and puts forward the theory of the semiotic square. The semiotic square defines the elementary items of a discourse: an idea (A) and its contrary (B). According to Greimas, a literary text begins with the contradiction between (A) and (B), and with the development of the process merge new items such as (C) and (D). (C) is the negation of (A) and (D) is the contrary of (B). With the communication of the four items, the discourse draws to an end. The semiotic square theory defines relationships between the four items involved, but not simply their respective meanings.From the perspective of semiotic criticism and structuralism, many of I.B.Singer's novels may be read as semiotic universes in structure. Singer is a master storywriter. His narrative strategy requires the presentation of facts and experiences without commentary and external explanations. The main characters and plots in his works are well-arranged signs to convey his thoughts and ideas, which in whole construct different semiotic square forms.This thesis tends to apply the semiotic square theory to analyze Singer's three representative novels: The Magician of Lublin, The Manor and The Family Moskat. Through the analysis, we discover that the structures of many of Singer's novels are amenable to the semiotic square pattern.Propp once said, "An action cannot be defined apart from its place in the course of narration. The meaning which a giving function has in the course of action must be considered" (Fokkema, 62). Through the structural pattern, we extract the cultural and ideological meaning of Singer's novels. We understand that in the semiotic square sign B (anti-Jewishness) stands for the Gentile world and sign C represents different kinds of Jews facing the secular world. They become repentant sinners at last. Through the semiotic square, Singer conveys the notion that only by trudging a long way can a Jew or the whole Jewish people come to their way toward conversion to traditional identity, morality and Judaism (i.e.C-D in the semiotic square). When we interpret a text as a complete elementary structure, we shall consider, according to Greimas, "the concept that hints the minimal condition for the production of signification" (Fokkema, 65). Therefore, the structural pattern not only proves Singer's current theme from betray to redemption from the viewpoint of the structuralist semotics, but also further lays bare Singer's solid stand on Jewish tradition.