A historical outlook on theatrical ostension and its links with other terms of the semiotics of drama and theatre

Abstract

The first part of the article sketches the history of the term ostension from St. Augustine to Osolsobě. Ostension is explained as the fundament of the theatrical art by comparing it with the older theory of transubstantiation and the modern discussion of iconicity. The second part draws a parallel between ostension and Mukařovský's discovery of the ‘thingness’ of every work of art. The aim is to show that within the Prague School, which initiated modern semiotics and communication theory, there was at the same time a resistance against pan-semiotization and total subsumption of the arts under the theory of communication. Yet the School's insights also safe-guard against an uncritical rejection of semiotics and communication theory. The last part retraces certain pathologies of the theatre and focuses on recent Polish and Czech drama, demonstrating how obvious the destructive influence of the new media is on theatre. These pathologies are analyzed by means of the semiotic model with the focus on ostension. The theoretical framework is enhanced by Karl Bühler's distinction between two fields of language and Keir Elam's theory of possible worlds and frames.