Book review - Semiotic aspects of the intermedial turn

Abstract

The first term in the title of Nicola Dusi’s last work, Contromisure (Countermeasures), catches readers’ interest, particularly in juxtaposition with the rest of the title, Trasposizioni e intermedialità (Transpositions and intermediality): it implies the prevention of conflict or the response to it – and thus, with the connotative meaning of the term, we directly enter Dusi’s main field of interest and specialization: semiotics. The rest of the title defines the space in which this conflict takes place: the transposition of a text from a semiotic code and from one medium to another. The title is plainly explained in the theoretical chapter which opens the volume, and in the following chapters which deal with case studies that present those countermeasures in concrete examples of intersemiotic and intermedial transpositions, drawing upon both works of the Bourdieusian restricted cycle of literary production and others of the popular culture, ranging from comics and crime fiction to literary adaptations and popular films. Dusi’s volume is or –at least at a first glance– seems to be organized as a circle: it starts and closes with theory and in between are the case studies. When one examines more thoroughly how it is organized though, it turns out to be much more complex, as the theory, which refers to multiple and diverse models, is constantly illustrated by examples, and the case studies incorporate theoretical models presented in an applied form for the first time or delve into previously presented models and principles. This sort of organization is a constant characteristic of Dusi’s academic discourse in his articles, books and conferences, yet here it takes different forms and leads the reader to the core of the thematic, figural and figurative organization of the discourse. The volume continues and expands Dusi’s consistent reflection on audiovisual media, digital media and polysemiotic texts in general, with emphasis on their multiple intertextual, Punctum, 4(1): 202-204, 2018