Semiotic Investigations: Towards an Effective Semiotics: Stages

“A far-reaching book, well argued, persuasively and provocatively written. [McHoul’s] work fits into the discourse of poststructuralism and deconstruction. A real delight to read, McHoul’s book should find a place in graduate and research collections, beside the works of Roland Barthes, Foucault, and Derrida.”—Choice

“[McHoul’s] ‘big problem’ is: what is the relation between an expression and its effect. To answer this question fully means, of course, that McHoul has to tackle not just issues of semiotics, but also history, pedagogics, literary theory, science, and ethics. As a result, Semiotic Investigations has an enormous scope. The book is no less than an attempt to work in (at least) three fields at once, and McHoul seems at home dealing with analytic philosophy, continental philosophy, semiotics, and linguistics. Moreover, the book never shirks the difficult questions it raises. . . . The book is written in a very lucid style, combining his philosophical and theoretical ambition with analytic clarity, and his examples are both stimulating and helpful. . . . The intellectual sweep of Semiotic Investigations is impressive, as is the range of reference and discussion.”—Robert Eaglestone, British Journal of Aesthetics