Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface

1. Paleo-Gesture and the Vitruvian Man
2. Spread-Eagle in Sports and Torture
3. Spread-Eagle Brand Marks
4. Through the Hourglass
5. Semiotic Squares and Double-Binds
6. Foot Fingers and Arm Thighs
7. XXX: All Alone in the Solipsistic Crowd
8. XOXOXO: Figure Meets Ground

Notes
References
Index

Promotional Information

X: a letter, a pose, a cipher, a symbol. This book explores the visceral origins and felt meanings of 'X' to explain surprising reversals in language and culture.

About the Author

Jamin Pelkey is Assistant Professor of Linguistic Anthropology at the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Faculty of Arts, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada

Reviews

Fearlessly, yet thoughtfully, Jamin Pelkey (who likens himself to an ‘investigating detective’) pulls down the borders between anthropology, linguistics, psychology, history, philosophy and other disciplines to explore the extremes and reversals that characterize human existence and are expressed by the messages of the embodied X. The book, which is devoted to broadening and deepening our understanding of the rhetorical figure called chiasmus, is itself chiastic in design. Pelkey’s odyssey through the currents of primordial to modern times is meant to reveal the strange and unfamiliar behind the old familiar figure of X, and to induce readers to reverse their previous - often superficial - understanding of this powerful symbol.
*Ivo Strecker, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Mainz University, Germany*

Every once in a while a book comes along that will change the rules of the academic game. Pelkey’s brilliant book is one of these—it will change the game in several fields, including psychology, linguistics, semiotics, and anthropology... It is amazing how Pelkey uses the letter X as his framework for elaborating his theory of mind and how the products of human expression and cognition are intertwined to each other in a chiasmic fashion. This is a must read for everyone working on the relation between mind and reality.
*Marcel Danesi, Professor of Semiotics and Linguistics Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada*

The Semiotics of X is a vital contribution to semiotics, a vibrant work that shows exceptional mastery of the field, and it is a good omen for semiotics research in coming decades. I think Jamin Pelkey will be very influential. Beginning students will have a field day with the first three chapters; those already immersed in the controversies of semiotics will find inspiration right through. Make sure your library has it, and get a copy of your own you can mark up.
*SemiotiX*