"A vital force in European linguistics and literary scholarship in the 1930s, the Prague School opened up the rich field of semiotics and art. The study of art as the creative use of the sign became one of its principal areas of critical examination, and in this collection of 21 essays this concept of semiotics is brought to bear on a wide range of the arts, including theater, film, poetry, folk art, and painting." -- p. [4] of cover