I would like to discuss first chapter entitled "Three Functions of a Text" from the book Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture . The book is originally written in Russian by Yuri Lotman. 1. About the Author Yuri Lotman (also Spelled as Juri Lotman, 28 February 1922 – 28 October 1993 ) was a prominent Russian-Estonian literary scholar, semiotician, and historian of Russian culture, who worked at the University of Tartu. He was a founder of the Tartu–Moscow Semiotic School. The present book from which the chapter is being discussed is one of the key works on his ideas of signs, semiotics, and culture. 2. What is this Chapter about? The central argument of the chapter is that semiotic systems, particularly language and the texts they produce, have functions that extend far beyond the adequate transmission of a pre-existing message. The text identifies and elaborates on two additional, crucial functions: the generation of new meanings, identified as the creativ...