Introductions and General Works

Bouissac, Paul (Ed.) (1998): Encyclopedia of Semiotics. Oxford: Oxford University Press Chandler, Daniel (2001): Semiotics: The Basics. London: Routledge [the freeze-dried version of this online text!] Cobley, Paul & Litza Jansz ([1997] 1999): Introducing Semiotics (originally entitled Semiotics for Beginners). Cambridge: Icon [part of an engagingly visual series] Coward, Rosalind & John Ellis (1977): Language and Materialism: Developments in Semiology and the Theory of the Subject. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul [heavy going] Danesi, Marcel (1994): Messages and Meanings: An Introduction to Semiotics. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press [very readable] Danesi, Marcel (1999): Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things: An Introduction to Semiotics. London: Macmillan [a wide-ranging elementary introduction] Deely, John (1990): Basics of Semiotics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press [a philosophical discussion of semiotics, not really for the beginner] Fiske, John (1982): Introduction to Communication Studies. London: Routledge (Chapter 3, 'Communication, Meaning and Signs'; Chapter 4, 'Codes'; Chapter 5, 'Signification'; Chapter 6, 'Semiotic Methods and Applications'); Chapter 8, 'Ideology and Meanings') [an excellent guide] Guiraud, Pierre (1975): Semiology (trans. George Gross). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul [an accessible introduction] Hodge, Robert & Gunther Kress (1988): Social Semiotics. Cambridge: Polity Johansen, Jrgen Dines & Svend Erik Larsen (1988): Signs in Use. London: Routledge Nth, Winfried (1990): Handbook of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press [very useful reference book] Sless, David (1986): In Search of Semiotics. London: Croom Helm [quite idiosyncratic]

Other Semioticians
Barthes, Roland (1967). Elements of Semiology (trans. Annette Lavers & Colin Smith). London: Jonathan Cape Barthes, Roland (1977): Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana Baudrillard, Jean (1988): Selected Writings (Ed. Mark Poster). Cambridge: Polity Press Blonsky, Marshall (Ed.) (1985): On Signs: A Semiotics Reader. Oxford: Blackwell [short articles by key semioticians] Eco, Umberto (1976): A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press/London: Macmillan [not for beginners] Eco, Umberto (1981): The Role of the Reader. London: Hutchinson Eco, Umberto (1984): Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press Eco, Umberto (1994): Apocalypse Postponed (Ed. Robert Lumley). London: BFI/Bloomington: Indiana University Press Greimas, (1987): On Meaning: Selected Writings in Television(trans. Paul JAlgirdas& Frank H Collins). London: Frances Pinter Semiotic Theory Perron Allen, Robert C. (Ed.) (1992): Channels of Discourse, [not an easy read] Reassembled. London: Routledge [several useful and relevant papers, including Genosko, Gary (1994): Baudrillard and Signs: Signification Ellen Seiter: 'Semiotics, structuralism and television'] Ablaze. London: Routledge Berger, Arthur Asa (1982): Media Analysis Techniques. Innis, Robert E (Ed.) (1986): Semiotics: An Introductory Newbury Park, CA: Sage (Chapter 1, 'Semiological Analysis'; also available in Anthology. London: Hutchinson Oliver Boyd-Barrett & Peter Braham (Eds.) (1987): Media, Knowledge and Power. Morris, Charles W (1946): Signs, Language and Behavior. New London: Croom Helm) [a simple introduction relating semiotics to television] York: Prentice-Hall Fiske, John (1987): Television Culture. London: Routledge Peirce, Charles S (1966): Selected Writings. New York: Dover [very useful]

Fiske, John & John Hartley (1978): Reading Television. London: Sebeok, Thomas A (Ed.) (1977): A Perfusion of Signs. Methuen [very useful, despite the date, but see Woollacott 1982, op. cit.] Structuralism and Poststructuralism David Tripp (1986): Children and Television: Visual Media Hodge, Robert & A Semiotic Derrida, Jacques (1976): Of Grammatology (trans. a classic study] Barry, Ann Marie Seward (1997): Visual Intelligence: Approach. Cambridge: Polity Press [not easy, but Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press [the An Exploration Perception, Image and Manipulation in Visual Communication. New York: State Lewis, Justin (1991): The Ideological Octopus: translator's introduction is enlightening] New York: Routledge (Chapter 2, 'Rethinking University of New its Audience. of Television and York Press Derrida,Burgin, Victor (Ed.) (1982): Thinking Photography. London: Jacques (1978): Writing and Difference (trans. Alan Television') Bass). London: Routledge & Woollacott, Janet (1982): 'Messages and Meanings'. In Michael Kegan Paul Macmillan Gurevitch, Derrida, Jacques (1987): Positions. London: Athlone Press [a Tony Bennett, Howard & Paul Walton (Eds.) (1983): Language, Image, Davis, James Curran & Janet Woollacott (Eds.): Culture, Society way into and the Media.Basil Blackwell [including Don Slater: 'Marketing Mass & Hartley] Derrida] Media. Oxford: London: Routledge [not easy; includes critique of Fiske Photography', pp. 245-263] (1970): The Order of Things. London: Foucault, Michel Tavistock Floch, Jean-Marie (2000): Visual Identities (trans. Pierre Van Osselaer & Alec McHoul). London: Continuum Foucault, Michel (1974): The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Tavistock Gombrich, Ernst H (1977): Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation. London: Phaidon Signification Genosko, Gary (1994): Baudrillard and Signs: Ablaze. London: Routledge Gombrich, Ernst H (1982): The Image and the Eye: Further Studies in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation. London: Phaidon Halperin, David M (1995): Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography. New York: Oxford University Press Goodman, Nelson (1968): Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols. London: Oxford University Press of Language. Jameson, Fredric (1972): The Prison-House Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press & Theo van Leeuwen (1996): Reading Images: Kress, Gunther The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge Lacan, Jacques (1977): crits: A Selection. London: Tavistock Messaris, Paul (1994): Visual 'Literacy': Image, Mind and Lane, Michael (Ed.) (1970): Structuralism: A Reader. London: Reality. Jonathan Cape Boulder, CO: Westview Press Tagg, John (1982): Deconstruction: Theory and Norris, Christopher (1988): The Burden of Representation: Essays on Photographies and Practice. London: MethuenHistories. Basingstoke: Macmillan [recommended]

Macmillan Sturrock, John (1979) (Ed.): Structuralism and Since: From Lvi-Strauss to Derrida. Oxford: Oxford University Press Sturrock, John (1986): Structuralism. London: Paladin
Culler, Jonathan (1985): Saussure. London: Fontana Bloomington: Indiana University Press Harris, Roy (1987): Reading Saussure: A Critical Commentary on Sebeok, Thomas A (1994): An Introduction to Semiotics. London: the 'Cours de linguistique gnrale'. London: Duckworth Pinter [an introduction to Thomas Sebeok] Holdcroft, David (1991): Saussure: Signs, Systems and Arbitrariness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Saussure, Ferdinand de (1974): Course in General Linguistics Saussure (trans. Wade Baskin). London: Fontana/Collins [still the most widely-cited translation, dating from 1959] Saussure, Ferdinand de (1983): Course in General Linguistics (trans. Roy Harris). London: Duckworth [beware of the rendering of signifiant as 'signal' and signifi as 'signification' instead of the more usual 'signifier' and 'signified'] Thibault, Paul J (1997): Re-reading Saussure: The Dynamics of Signs in Social Life. London: Routledge [not for beginners]