Der Phallusbaum als Paradigma der obszönen Groteske Eine zeichentheoretische Ernte

Abstract

The study centres on the phallus tree of Massa Marittima. The obscene grotesque of the phallus tree is examined with regard to its deictic creation of meaning. The semiotic analysis considers both the pictorial and the linguistic dimension of the creation of meaning, taking into account iconographic and etymological traditions. The phallus tree with its deixis leads to a fundamental question: how much complexity can we attribute to pre-modern pictorial and textual works with obscene motifs, and how much complexity might we perhaps prematurely deny them?