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Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies - Japanese Studies and URPP Asia and Europe
Room KOL F-103, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich
The guest lecture looks at the semiotic structure of the following two texts about silence, which are said to be the most famous works composed by the haiku master, Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694):
Furuike
ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto
Time-worn pond –
ah! / a frog jumps in / water’s sound
Shizukasa
ya / iwa ni shimiiru / semi no koe
Stillness – ah!
/ seeps into rocks / cicada’s voice
After giving a brief textual explanation, Prof. Hiraga will present a detailed linguistic and semiotic analysis of the rhetorical structure of the texts to illustrate (i) how the global metaphor of “SILENCE IS SOUND” connects the two texts, and (ii) how this metaphor navigates semiotic interpretations in the revising process, grammatical structure, and phonology across the texts. The analysis is aimed to illustrate that this type of semiotic approach could provide a new interpretation and explication of the interrelated haiku in question.