Rilke’s Semiotic Potential: Iconicity and Performance

Author's Department

English & Comparative Literature Department

Document Type

Research Article

Publication Title

American Journal of Semiotics

Publication Date

2006

doi

https://doi.org/10.5840/ajs2002181/410

Abstract

This article demonstrates how a new reading of Rilke’s poetry can provide a basis for comparing and contrasting the aesthetic approach to art and the language-based approach that foregrounds the role of metaphor and materiality in literary production. Lessing’s Laocoön is discussed in terms of an implied dialogue between painting and poetry, which, however, acquires a different valence when the Fifth of Rilke’s Duino Elegies suggests that poetry itself functions as a ‘metaphorical hypoicon’ allowing for shared meanings. My concluding remarks emphasize the importance of the performing self to a complete understanding of Rilke’s semiotic potential.

First Page

159

Last Page

172

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