Uncertainties of Semiotics (A Review of the Semio-Semantics of Literature: Towards the Theory and Method of Literary Discourse Analysis)

The semiotics theory of Greimas is mainly introduced to Persian readers by Hamid Reza Sha'iri. This article attempts to prove that the presentation of this theory and the explanation of its foundational concepts and methodological bases, have only made it more complicated and difficult. This article examines Sha'iri's last book, namely The Semio-Semantics of Literature: Towards the Theory of Literary Discourse Analysis and some other writings of the author to show the causes of ambiguity which exist through them. The most important causes of ambiguity in what the author has written about Grimasian semiotics are: 1- The lack of historical approach to semiotics theory 2- Ambiguity of definitions, classifications and terms 3- using insufficient and sometimes wrong Persian substitutes for technical terms of Greimasian theory of semiotics. The article concludes that because of the aforementioned faults, the book cannot represent how the Greimasian semiotic concepts and methodology should be applied to the literary texts, and even the most elementary questions about the application of different methods in understanding and assessing literary texts, remain unanswered.