From Abjuration to Zero, passing through Clandestine, Cosmopolitics, Disinformation, Flexibility, Future, Immunity, Swearwords, Reformist, Shame and numerous other entries, the “politically incorrect lexicon” that Paolo Fabbri presents us with in “Signs of the Times” does not want to enclose the words we use within precise definitions, but to traverse with them practices of meaning, expressions, actions, passions and reasons for our contemporary living. These voices aim to be a living and experimental semiotic organism, and hope to take root in various semantic fields. Because the meaning of words, according to Fabbri, is not intrinsic, but is defined by their position in discourse and continually negotiated in conversations and debates. The topics covered - semiotics, art, literature, science, media, politics, war - also respond to the need for a new alliance between discourses, for an ethology of enunciation, for practices of meaning in perpetual exchange and conflict, politically incorrect and interwoven with words that are always penultimate.

Preface by Stefano Bartezzaghi