personal life

Juri Lotman was born in Petrograd

Juri Lotman was born in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) to a family of Jewish Russian …

Studying at Petri-Schules School

Juri Lotman studied at St. Petri-Schules (1930–1939). Lotman’s parents tried their best to give their …

Graduation from Petri-Schules School

Juri Lotman graduated from Petrischule with a gold medal (first-class honours).

Conscription before the Second World War

While Lotman was in his second year of university, he was called to serve in …

Works as an artist in the occupied Germany

After the war, Lotman completed another year and a half of mandatory service in the …

Quote background

The norm has no distinctive features. It is a singular space located between the fool and the madman. Explosion, too, has no distinctive features, or to be more exact, possesses a whole range of possible features. In the case of individual behaviour, it distances itself from the norm and in such a case represents itself as folly; translated into mass culture, it becomes a form of stupidity.

Juri Lotman