Ksenia Elisseeva - Bruno Osimo, traduzioni, semiotica della ...
Ksenia Elisseeva - Bruno Osimo, traduzioni, semiotica della ...
Ksenia Elisseeva - Bruno Osimo, traduzioni, semiotica della ...
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Such a method of fortune-telling does not belong in general to scientific study<br />
as a sign system because it is susceptible to an infinite number of degrees of<br />
freedom and accordingly to infinite probable outcomes. However, it can be of<br />
great interest for game theory and for psychologists.<br />
On the contrary, “honest” fortune-telling, which is most prevalent inside a<br />
circle of acquaintances and in telling one's own fortune, is as a rule a rigid<br />
system almost devoid of freedom of choice. In this system, each card has one<br />
unique meaning that can vary only in strictly stipulated, isolated instances;<br />
various nuances of meaning are created only in the context of the entire<br />
distribution of cards, as is discussed below. Obviously such a system is<br />
elaborated during a centuries-long developmental process in which the most<br />
significant and diverse actions and consequences are selected, and in this form<br />
it attracts our attention as a system of plots.<br />
I shall take as my example one of the systems of fortune-telling which is<br />
widespread in Petersburg-Leningrad 1 . This system is only one variant of<br />
Russian methods of fortune-telling; of course fortune-telling as a “serious”<br />
attribute of everyday Iife is now almost extinct in our country, and has been<br />
preserved mainly as an amusement.<br />
Depending on the person whose fortune is being told, an appropriate<br />
face card is chosen from among the cards; in this system, kings and queens are<br />
the only face cards used. In personal, direct fortune-telling, the queen of spades<br />
naturally loses validity for ethical reasons, but in indirect, impersonal fortunetelling,<br />
it is theoretically possible to utilize the queen of spades, especially if the<br />
fortune-teller has grounds for thinking that a woman is a “villainess”.<br />
1 There are a great many systems of cartomancy, and the literature describing the<br />
various methods is extremely extensive. We shall mention only a few books in the Russian<br />
language: Gadal'nye karty znamenitogo prof. Svedenborga (Moscow, 1859); Gadanie o<br />
prošedšem, nastoâŝem i buduŝem (Moscow, 1891); Polnoe rukovodstvo k gadaniû na kartah<br />
(Sankt Peterburg, 1912).<br />
8