Space as a Semiotic Object: A Three-Dimensional Model of Vertical Structure of Space in Calvino’s Invisible Cities

Abstract

Following the “spatial turn” of the last 3 decades in humanities and social sciences and the structure of semiotic object, this research studies space as the main semiotic object of Calvino’s (1972) Invisible Cities. Significance of this application resides in examining the possibility of providing a more concrete methodology based on the integration of Zoran’s (1984) 3 vertical levels of constructing space and Hrushovski’s (1979) 3-dimensional model of the structure of semiotic object in the space-oriented plot of Calvino’s (1972) novel. In fact, the topographic, chronotopic, and textual levels of space are respectively studied in association with the dimensions of meaning and reference, organized text, and speech and position. It is also suggested that for studying all the vertical levels of space in Invisible Cities as well as all other literary texts, the 3 aspects of textual levels including the selectivity of language, the linearity of the text and the latter’s perspective are respectively reflected in the structure of space at the topographic, chronotopic, and textual levels.