Slavonic and East European Review

Abstract:

The article discusses Jan Mukařovský’s lecture from 1943 (published in 1966) in the context of a possible (post)post-structuralist paradigm, stressing his notion of the dichotomy of the work of art as a sign (standing for conventional or default works of art) on the one hand, versus his radical understanding of the work of art as a thing on the other. According to Mukařovský, the work of art as a thing stands out unpredictably when a literary text ceases to make unified sense as a communicative sign and instead begins to appear as an incomprehensible, silent, mute thing, thus radically provoking readers’ interpretative efforts.