ISSN 1392-1126. PROBLEMOS. 2004 66(1) FAKE AT STAKE: SEMIOTICS ANO THE PROBLEM OF AUTHENTICITY Almira Ousmanova European Humanities University, Deparment of Cul turology 220013, BELRUS, Minsk, ui. P. Brovky, 3/2 Tel/ax: 00 375 + 17 - 2966783 E-mail: ausman@ehu.by The essay provides a critical assessment of the debates concering the concepts of fake and original (authentical in the contxt of semiotic (Ch.S. Peirce, T de Lauretis, U. Eco, M Bal), phi/osophy (N. Goodman, J. Baudrilard, S. Zizek), art theor ( Benjamin, l. Hayod, N. Bron), histor (C. Ginzbur). It is an attempt to represent the problem of reproduction of cultural artefact as a multifaceted issue which embraces the wole series of relatd notions (take, forgery, imitation, reproducion, replication, remake, copy, pastiche, etc.) along with their diferent meanings and implicationsfr various cultural practices (fine art, history architecture, cinema, social and cultural 'apparatuses' of identification). The main aim of the text is to provide an interdisciplinary frame of interpretation of the phenomenon offrgery to reveal how aesthetic judgment on the originality (and aura) of the work of art are determined by economical and political factors and to show how the 'ideology of original' is related to the power know/edge sytem and the issues of political economy in contemporary Wester cu/ture. Semiotics (particularly in U. Eco' version) is chosen here as the most promising and eficient toolfr the ana/yis of this comp/ex phenomenon. Keyords: Semiotics; fake; origina/; representation; ideology Imitation as a Cultural and Semiotic Paradox Te dichotomy of fake and original seems to be omnipresent and ineradicable in our culture Te problem of reproduction of cultural artefacts is one of the key problems of modernity which embraces the whole series of related phenom ena - such as fake, forger, imitation, replica tion, remake, copy, pastiebe, etc. Various cul tural practices (ranging fom fine arts, history, architecture, cinema, religion to soio-economic 80 relations and dominant ideology) worked out their own strategies of dealing with this prob lem. For a long time the topics of imitation and reproduction were studied separately by each discipline. Classical aesthetics and art theor elaborated sophisticated procedures (the so called 'attbution') fr identiing and discerg cpies fom originas; phlologsts worked out their own instrumental criteria fr identification of 'orinal' texs; philosophers meditated on the is sues of difernc and reptton (J. Deleu), iden tity and the Self, copy and simulacrum (fom