Yuri Lotman and the Tartu-Moscow School

Abstract:We aim to describe Yuri Lotman’s role as an instigator and as a key member of the Tartu-Moscow School (1960-1980). This paper presents documents and photographs from Sergei Nekliúdov’s personal archive, who was also a member of this school. This archive shows some activities of these semioticians in the context of the Soviet system. We also approach some of the theoretical grounds of the Tartu-Moscow School and Lotman, such as the notion of “secondary modelling systems” and the logic of binary oppositions.