A semiotics of fear: death, play, and the black humor

An attempt is made to look at the problem of fear in general and the fear of death in particular through a prism of semiotic and linguistic analysis. The author shows that the concept of fear is a rather vague conceptual area. At the lexical level, the vagueness is reflected in the presence of a number of words with marked semantics. Different types of fear denoted by different lexemes, differ in terms of strength and intensity. But only the extreme mode of fear that changes the mind of the person, can become a method of acquiring some kind of knowledge by the person. In Russian this mode is denoted by the word ‘horror’. It is the death that is the key subject matter of fear. Certain aspects of human understanding of the death can be reconstructed on the basis of three semiotic codes — language, symbolic images, and rituals. In particular, the etymology of death words in different Indo-European languages and the images on the basis of which it was presented in traditional cultures and the rituals accompanying it are presented. Black humor is seen as one of the verbal rituals to cope with the fear of death. It is shown that the basis of black humor is a play element, and any display of black humor actually constitutes a special ritual act, which a person carries out within the framework of figurative, kinetic or verbal codes. In this act on a playing basis, a person touches the symbolic ‘eidolons’ of the death. Playing with its artificial models — images of deadly situations or their verbal descriptions — one comes to the conclusion that one is conquering death. The usual joy of the playing is transformed into the joy of victory over the fatal force. Thus, the victory is won not by laughter, as one might suppose from the very nature of all humor, including black, but by the play.

Keywords

play, ritual, symbol, death, laughter, existential fear, black humor, language

Publication date

29.03.2019

Number of characters

38604

Cite

GOST	A semiotics of fear: death, play, and the black humor // Chelovek – 2019. – V. 30. – Issue №1 C. 154-172 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://chelovek-journal.ru/S023620070003027-6-1 (circulation date: 25.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S023620070003027-6
MLA	, "A semiotics of fear: death, play, and the black humor." Chelovek 30.1 (2019):154-172. DOI: 10.31857/S023620070003027-6
APA	(2019). A semiotics of fear: death, play, and the black humor. Chelovek 30(1), pp.154-172 DOI: 10.31857/S023620070003027-6

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 11, views: 1995

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Agapkina T.A. Maslenitsa. Slavyanskaya mifologiya: Entsiklopedicheskii slovar [Cheesefare. Encyclopedia of Slavic Mithology]. Moscow: Ellis Lak, 1995. P. 255.

2. Apresyan Yu.D. Izbrannye trudy. T. 2. Integralnoe opisanie yazyka i sistemnaya leksikografiya [Selecta. Vol. 2. Language Integral Description and Systemic Lexicography]. Moscow: Shkola Yazyki russkoi kultury Publ., 1995. P. 370371, 456.

3. Bakhtin M.M. Tvorchestvo Fransua Rable i narodnaya kultura srednevekovya i Renessansa [Rabelais and His World]. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1990. P. 137.

4. Berestnev G.I. Printsip igry v chernom yumore [Game principle in black humor]. Kritika i semiotika. 2017. N 1. P. 354378.

5. Bern E. Igry, v kotorye igrayut lyudi. Lyudi, kotorye igrayut v igry [Games People Play. What Do You Say After You Say Hello]. St. Peterburg: Lenizdat Publ., 1992. P. 50.

6. Bidermann H. Entsiklopediya simvolov [Dictionary of Symbolism]. Moscow: Respublika Publ., 1996.

7. Borisov S.B. Estetika chernogo yumora v rossiiskoi traditsii. Iz istorii russkoi esteticheskoi mysli [Black Humor Aesthetics with in Russian tradition]. St. Peterburg: Obrazovanie Publ., 1993.

8. Vershina V., Mikhailyuk A. Smekh v kontekste nesmeshnogo [The laughter in the context of the unfunny]. Doksa. Logos ³ praksis sm³khu. 2004. Iss. 5. P. 131.

9. Gamkrelidze T.V., Ivanov Vyach. Vs. Indoevropeiskii yazyk i indoevropeitsy. Rekonstruktsiya i istoriko-tipologicheskii analiz prayazyka i protokultury. Ch. 12 [Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture]. Parts 12]. Tbilisi: Tbilissi Univ. Publ., 1984.

10. Grof S., Halifax J. Chelovek pered litsom smerti [The Human Encounter with Death]. Moscow: Transpersonal Inst. Publ.; Kiev: Air Land Publ., 1996.

11. Diogenes Laertius. O zhizni, ucheniyakh i izrecheniyakh znamenitykh filosofov [Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers]. Moscow: Mysl Publ., 1979. P. 433.

12. Dyakonov I.M. Vvedenie. Mifologii drevnego mira [Introduction. Myths of Ancient World]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1977. P. 20.

13. Ivanov Vyach. Vs., Toporov V.N. Marena. Slavyanskaya mifologiya. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar [Marena. Encyclopedia of Slavic Mithology]. Moscow: Ellis Lak, 1995. P. 253.

14. Karasev L.V. Paradoks o smekhe [A Paradox on the Laughter]. Kvintessentsiya: Filos. Almanakh [Quintessence: A Philosophical Almanac]. Moscow, 1990. P. 347.

15. Kebuladze V. Fenomenologiya chernogo yumora [Phenomenology of the Black Humor]. Doksa. Logos ³ praksis sm³khu. 2004. Iss. 5. P. 71.

16. Cirlot J.E. Slovar simvolov [A Dictionary of Symbols]. Moscow: REFL-book Publ., 1994. P. 472.

17. Kobrinskii A. Kharms sel na knopku, ili Proza absurd [Absurdist fiction] Iskusstvo Leningrada. 1990. N 11. P. 70.

18. Cooper J.C. Entsiklopediya simvolov [An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols]. Moscow: GOLDEN AGE Association of Spiritual Unity Publ., 1995.

19. Lotman Yu.M. Struktura khudozhestvennogo teksta [Structure of the Artistic Text]. Lotman Yu.M. Ob iskusstve [On the Art]. St. Peterburg: Iskuustvo-Spb. Publ., 1998. http://www.ruthenia.ru/lotman/papers/sht/4.html

20. Frazer J. Zolotaya vetv [The Golden Bough]. Moscow: Izd-vo politicheskoi literatury Publ., 1993.

21. Heidegger M. Vremya i bytie [Time and Being]. Moscow: Respublika Publ., 1993.

22. Huizinga J. Homo ludens: Chelovek igrayushchii [Homo Ludens]. St. Peterburg: Izdatelskii dom Azbuka-klassika, 2007. P. 45.

23. Shmeleva N.L. Ponyatie chernyi yumor i ego funktsionalnostilisticheskie osobennosti [Black Humor Concept and its functional and stylistic specifics]. Almanakh sovremennoi nauki i obrazovaniya: v 2 ch. [Almanac of contemporary science: in 2 pt.]. Tambov: Gramota Publ., 2009. N 8 (27), pt. 2. P. 210.