Mihhail Lotman (born September 2, 1952 in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

) is an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

n literature researcher and politician, son of Juri Lotman and Zara Mints. Mihhail Lotman's research fields include general

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

and semiotics of culture as well as text theory and history of

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the ...

. Lotman was a member of the board of Russian Cultural Society in Estonia from 1988 to 1994. Lotman is a professor of semiotics and literary theory at the Tallinn University and also a member of a research group on semiotics at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. Lotman was awarded the Medal of the

Order of the White Star The Order of the White Star ( et, Valgetähe teenetemärk; french: Ordre de l'Etoile Blanche) was instituted in 1936. The Order of the White Star is bestowed on Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Balti ...

on February 2, 2001. In recent years, Lotman has been active in politics, serving as Member of

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Just ...

for the conservative

Res Publica Party Res Publica Party ( et, Erakond Res Publica) was a political party in Estonia that self-identified as conservative. Established as a party on 8 December 2001, the political organisation Res Publica was founded already as early as 1989 and exist ...

. In 2010, Lotman defended Sofi Oksanen's novel '' Puhdistus'' against its opponents in Estonia.

References

External links

Mihhail Lotman's homepage

Estonian Research Portal entry
Estonian scholars Linguists from Estonia Estonian people of Russian descent Estonian Jews Russian Jews 1952 births Living people Recipients of the Order of the White Star, Medal Class Academic staff of the University of Tartu University of Tartu alumni Estonian semioticians Members of the Riigikogu, 2003–2007 Members of the Riigikogu, 2019–2023 Academic staff of Tallinn University Russians in Estonia Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 2nd Class {{semiotician-stub