From Theorist to Thinker: Encounter with Yuri Lotman under the Mentorship of Boris Egorov

Abstract

In this paper, which is largely personal and retrospective, the author shares his memories of his encounters with the works of Yuri Lotman and takes the opportunity for a reconside­ration of his semiotics as a specific reflection on the history of Russia. Beginning with me­mories of the first encounter with Lotman's work more than thirty years ago in Korea, the author describes his experiences studying Lotman in Russia under the supervision of Pro­fessor Boris Fedorovich Egorov and, after returning to his native country, intensively explor­ing Lotman's last years (the so-called ‘Lotmanian explosion’). In particular, the author at­tempts to reconceptualize the intriguing concept of the ‘mechanism of Smuta’ that Lotman developed in his later years in terms of the "unpredictability of the past" and to highlight its profound implications for Lotman, who, the author argues, should be seen not only as a theo­rist but also as a (Russian) thinker.

Keywords

• yuri lotman
• boris egorov
• explosion
• mechanism of smuta
• unpredictability of the past