Denysko P. Sign opacity as a problem of semiotic aesthetics

The dissertation is devoted to the analysis of connection between sign opacity and aesthetic experience, which is one of the most crucial problem of today within the scope of semiotic aesthetics. Two main forms of sign opacity have been researched in the history of semiotics - sense opacity and referential opacity. Moreover, the close link between self-reference, sign opacity and aesthetic experience has been analysed and also typified various kinds of self-reference in artworks. The sign opacity and the complication of self-reference (manifested as auto-reflexive semiosis) in the text-within-the-text structure have been studied, same as the meaning of theatre-in-the-theatre device. "Blow-Up" by M. Antonioni and "Crying for lot 49" by T. Pynchon is the case study for the detailed consideration of interconnection between sign opacity, self-reference and aesthetic experience.