The Semiosis of Pictures in the Short Story Panorama by Ivo Andrić Cover Image

Semioza slika u noveli Panorama Ive Andrića
The Semiosis of Pictures in the Short Story Panorama by Ivo Andrić

Author(s): Sanja Franković
Subject(s): Aesthetics, Bosnian Literature, Sociology of Culture, Theory of Literature, Stylistics
Published by: Slavistički komitet BiH
Keywords: Panorama; advertisement; imagination,;dream pictures; the semiosis of pictures; mise-en-abyme;

Summary/Abstract: The title of Andrić’s short story Panorama refers to an old-fashioned image sequence which represented countries and cities of the world. The already worn out form of entertainment was liked by a naive and poor boy. His complex experience of panorama causes the composition of the short story, in which several semiotic layers can be discerned. The pictures as kitschy, false representamen represent objects – landscapes, buildings, and people from different parts of the world, and the boy connects them with personal experience or images. The picture in his consciuosness (interpretant) raises the subconscious superstructure (new representamen) of still images, which become alive in the boy’s dream, but also lead into anxious outcomes caused by his poverty or fears present in children’s dreams. In the nostalgic imagination of an adult man the life course of former panorama characters is thought out by further semiosis. This last layer acts as an epilogue with several stories made up besides the remembered images. The AustroHungarian advertising trick, which even in provincial cities has no echo, realized its aim in the reception of the Sarajevo boy since he experinced the still images as potency – filling them with his own meanings. The reverse of the panorama in the moment of its departure is the boy’s realization that money, unfortunately, essentially determines the fate of people and their creations. However, an adult man does not give up on imagination as the best part of himself.

  • Issue Year: II/2019
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 259-268
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Bosnian