Semiotics has suddenly piqued my interest and I want to learn

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For me Barthes' 'Semiotic Challenge' was a pretty good introduction. After it, if you are interested in discursive semiotics, read Propp / Jakobson. If you are more interested in plastic and figurative semiotics, read A. J. Greimas, he often overlaps with Barthes, but I personally like him more.

>>7664909
What /lit/ will tell you is that you should start with Saussere and Pierce and then work chronologically towards contemporary thinkers but I think that a textbook or summary is enough to get a basic understanding. Like Saussere and Pierce can be summed up quite quckly but you need time to wrap your head around it.

I did a presentation on semiotics for my design courses and once I was done with it the idea of decoding the world through signs (consciously and un-consciously) occupied my mind for months - that's when the real fun starts, I felt like rediscovering the inner mechanisms of life, the psyche and everything else you can apply the sign analogy to.

When you're done Charles S Pierce and Ferdinard De Saussere, you can march on to Max Bense, Baudrillard, Umberto Eco, R Barthes and maybe look up the ancient definition signs by Aristotle. Again, no need for the original texts, an introduction to semiotics is more than enoguh

i started with mythologies by roland barthes. it makes most reading lists of essential critical theory

>>7664969
It's a tough read if you have no context on his methods, or french culture in the 50s

>>7664967
It's Saussure* and Peirce*, senpai.

>>7664967
it's Charles PEirce, not Pierce

Cratylus

>>7664997
>>7665003
>Saussure
While we're at it, it's good to point out that the name's pronounced 'satchel', which comes as a surprise to most of course but is a crucial distinction to make for any credibility in discussing him.

Thanks so much, fellows. Got a lot to look into now.

>>7664971
What should I read to give me the necessary understanding of these things to approach Mythologies?

>>7665046
This isn't true, OP, but Peirce is pronounced 'purse'.

>>7664971
eh true but some of the stuff in there like the einstein's mind or the martians essay are easily digestible without that knowledge

>>7664909

A tobacconist or a hookah store.

>>7665003
>>7664997
>>7665046
>>7665129
This is actually how I pronounced their names all this time, I beg your pardon

>>7665129
Barthes expanded on the previous definitions of semiotics, so inform yourself on previous iterations of the term. I got much more out of the book on my second reading, when I came in prepared.
As >>7665177 said, some essays don't require cultural context, like the ones about wrestling, or steak, others will need a bit of background information like who Abbe Pierre was or how other cars compared to Citroes DS at that time. But in the end even without a theoretical background you'll get hints of Barthes' brilliance

>>7664909
In the trash

>>7665239
Woah. Epic.

>>7664909
A theory of semiotics, Umberto Eco