Literary Intention Literary Interpretations And Readers

Author : John Maynard
Publisher : Broadview Press
Page : 460 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2009-04-17
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781770480469

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Literary Intention, Literary Interpretations, and Readers by John Maynard Pdf

This accessible, personal, and provocative study returns to the major subject in literary discussion before and during the relatively recent flourishing of literary theory, that of literary intention. Does the author’s personal intention or historical site determine a correct interpretation of a literary work? Probing the entire range of issues connected with this many-faceted and knotty concept, this book engages with interpretation on both theoretical and practical levels. It argues that the hard questions about interpretation connected to issues of intention cannot be sidestepped or ignored. It does not argue for conservative concepts of literature itself, nor against the major historical engagements of critics in our time. But in addressing those who continue to read or teach literature, it does insist on a level of sophistication in issues of literary interpretation that cannot be assured by historical research and knowledge of the social and cultural connections to literary works. The overall aim of the work is to recall readers to the great complexity, pleasure, and interest of literary interpretation.

Author : Ralf Grüttemeier
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2022-02-07
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783110767926

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Intention and Interpretation: A Short History by Ralf Grüttemeier Pdf

Intention plays a complex role in human utterances. The interpretation of literary texts is a strong case in point: for about two hundred years there have been conflicting views about whether, and how much, authorial intention should matter when professional readers interpret literature. These debates grew increasingly fierce during the post-World War II period, the landmarks of which were the notions of intentional fallacy and the death of the author. Seventy-odd years later, there is still no consensus in sight. What has always been neglected in the debates around authorial intention, however, is a reflection on the historical dimension of the debate and how historically bound each of the theoretical positions in the debate were. This book focusses precisely on the historical dimension of authorial intention, providing a systematic historical reconstruction of the importance ascribed to it in literary texts from Classical Greece to the present day, and including a chapter on authorial intention in jurisdiction and legal interpretation from a historical perspective. The book reconstructs a typology of the most important concepts of intention in interpretation for diachronic and synchronic use. At the same time it offers insights from a field-theoretical perspective into how literary studies as a discipline works over time and how notions of intention and interpretation help create forms of literary knowledge.

Author : John Farrell
Publisher : Springer
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03-17
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783319489773

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The Varieties of Authorial Intention by John Farrell Pdf

This book explores the logic and historical origins of a strange taboo that has haunted literary critics since the 1940s, keeping them from referring to the intentions of authors without apology. The taboo was enforced by a seminal article, “The Intentional Fallacy,” and it deepened during the era of poststructuralist theory. Even now, when the vocabulary of “critique” that has dominated the literary field is under sweeping revision, the matter of authorial intention has yet to be reconsidered. This work explains how “The Intentional Fallacy” confused different kinds of authorial intentions and how literary critics can benefit from a more up-to-date understanding of intentionality in language. The result is a challenging inventory of the resources of literary theory, including implied readers, poetic speakers, omniscient narrators, interpretive communities, linguistic indeterminacy, unconscious meaning, literary value, and the nature of literature itself.

Author : Peter D. Juhl
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2014-07-14
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781400858019

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Interpretation by Peter D. Juhl Pdf

This book provides and defends an analysis of our concept of the meaning of a literary work. P. D. Juhl challenges a number of widely held views concerning the role of an author's intention: the distinction between the real and the implied" author; and the question of whether a work has not one correct, but many acceptable interpretations. Originally published in 1981. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Author : Kaye Mitchell
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2011-10-27
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781441182418

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Intention and Text by Kaye Mitchell Pdf

The question of intention is central to the study of literature. How far can an author's intentions determine the meanings of his/her text? What do we mean by 'intention' in a literary context? What force does the reader's intention have in the construction of textual meaning? To what extent can a text itself be said to be 'intentional'? The aim of this book is to provide an in-depth analysis and critique of this concept of intention, its uses within the realms of literary theory, aesthetics, philosophy of language, phenomenology and deconstruction, and its potential for redefinition. Mitchell sets out to re-think intention and interrogate the possibilities of an intentionalism more suited to a formalist or textualist critical methodology. She moves from an assessment of the pitfalls of a traditional authorial intentionalism, towards the formulation of an 'intentionality of form', where intention is seen as a formal attribute of the text itself

Author : Ken M Newton
Publisher : Springer
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 1986-10-29
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781349184477

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In Defence of Literary Interpretation by Ken M Newton Pdf

Author : Nicholas Birns
Publisher : Broadview Press
Page : 438 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2010-06-14
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781460402986

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Theory After Theory by Nicholas Birns Pdf

Theory After Theory provides an overview of developments in literary theory after 1950. It is intended both as a handbook for readers to learn about theory and an intellectual history of the recent past in literary criticism for those interested in seeing how it fits in with the larger culture. Accessible but rigorous, this book provides a wealth of historical and intellectual context that allows the reader to make sense of the movements in recent literary theory.

Author : Eefje Claassen
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2012-02-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027274939

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Author Representations in Literary Reading by Eefje Claassen Pdf

Author Representations in Literary Reading investigates the role of the author in the mind of the reader. It is the first book-length empirical study on generated author inferences by readers of literature. It bridges the gap between theories which hold that the author is irrelevant and those that give him prominence. By combining insights and methods from both cognitive psychology and literary theory, this book contributes to a better understanding of how readers process literary texts and what role their assumptions about an author play. A series of experiments demonstrate that readers generate author inferences during the process of reading, which they use to create an image of the text’s author. The findings suggest that interpretations about the author play a pivotal role in the literary reading process. This book is relevant to scholars and students in all areas of the cognitive sciences, including literary studies and psychology.

Author : Gary Iseminger
Publisher : Temple University Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1995-01-24
Category : Art
ISBN : 1566393469

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Intention Interpretation by Gary Iseminger Pdf

"...an excellent and comprehensive discussion of a debate that was initiated in this century in William Wimsatt's and Monroe C. Beardsley's influential article 'The Intentional Fallacy.'...this is a splendidly conceived and very useful collection of essays. Readers will want to take issue with the arguments of individual authors, but this is to be expected in a volume at the cutting edge of a fertile philosophical controversy." --David Novitz, The Philosophical Quarterly "What is the connection, if any, between the author's intentions in (while) writing a work of literature and the truth (acceptability, validity) of interpretive statements about it?" With this question, Gary Isminger introduces a literary debate that has been waged for the past four decades and is addressed by philosophers and literary theorists in Intention and Interpretation. Thirteen essays discuss the role of appeals to the author's intention in interpreting works of literature. A well-known argument by E.D. Hirsch serves as the basic text, in which he defends the appeal to the author's intention against Wimsatt and Beardsley's claim that such an appeal involved "the intentional fallacy." The essays, mostly commissioned by the editor, explore the presuppositions and consequences of arguing for the importance of the author's intentions in the way Hirsch does. Connections emerge between this issue and many fundamental issues in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind as well as in aesthetics. The (old) "New Criticism" and current Post-Structuralism tend to agree in disenfranchising the author, and many people now are disinclined even to consider the alternative. Hirsch demurs, and arguments like his deserve the careful attention, both from critics and sympathizers, that they receive here. Literary scholars and philosophers who are sympathetic to Continental as well as to Anglo-American styles of philosophy are among the contributors. "This is a timely book appearing as it does when postmodernist views of the death of the author are disappearing quickly from the scene. As a collection it exemplifies the best work that is being done on this problem at the moment, and it will no doubt inspire further debate." --The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism "[T]his volume contains important articles illuminating the central debate over the role and relevance of authorial intentions in literary interoperation." --British Journal of Aesthetics

Author : David H. Richter
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 496 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2018-02-16
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781118958735

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A Companion to Literary Theory by David H. Richter Pdf

Introduces readers to the modes of literary and cultural study of the previous half century A Companion to Literary Theory is a collection of 36 original essays, all by noted scholars in their field, designed to introduce the modes and ideas of contemporary literary and cultural theory. Arranged by topic rather than chronology, in order to highlight the relationships between earlier and most recent theoretical developments, the book groups its chapters into seven convenient sections: I. Literary Form: Narrative and Poetry; II. The Task of Reading; III. Literary Locations and Cultural Studies; IV. The Politics of Literature; V. Identities; VI. Bodies and Their Minds; and VII. Scientific Inflections. Allotting proper space to all areas of theory most relevant today, this comprehensive volume features three dozen masterfully written chapters covering such subjects as: Anglo-American New Criticism; Chicago Formalism; Russian Formalism; Derrida and Deconstruction; Empathy/Affect Studies; Foucault and Poststructuralism; Marx and Marxist Literary Theory; Postcolonial Studies; Ethnic Studies; Gender Theory; Freudian Psychoanalytic Criticism; Cognitive Literary Theory; Evolutionary Literary Theory; Cybernetics and Posthumanism; and much more. Features 36 essays by noted scholars in the field Fills a growing need for companion books that can guide readers through the thicket of ideas, systems, and terminologies Presents important contemporary literary theory while examining those of the past The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Literary Theory will be welcomed by college and university students seeking an accessible and authoritative guide to the complex and often intimidating modes of literary and cultural study of the previous half century.

Author : Wolfgang Iser
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1993-02
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0801845939

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Prospecting by Wolfgang Iser Pdf

Reevaluating such time-honored concepts as representation, he sketches out a new play theoryof the text that sees literature as an ongoing enactment of human possibilities.

Author : Jeffrey Anthony Mitscherling,Tanya DiTommaso,Aref Nayad
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 164 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0739108948

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The Author's Intention by Jeffrey Anthony Mitscherling,Tanya DiTommaso,Aref Nayad Pdf

At the end of the twentieth century literary theorists find themselves reflecting on their discipline. Since at least 1969, the humanities and social sciences have seen the rise of Marxist critical theory, Foucault (or discourse and the new historicism), various schools of American and European cultural studies, deconstruction, and poststructuralism. One of the major coups of the last 30 years, from which all of the previously mentioned theoretical camps benefited, was the attack on and subsequent death of authorial intentionality. In, The Author's Intention co-authors DiTommaso, Mitscherling, and Nayed divert the current philosophical misrepresentation of authorial intention. Implicitly challenging a second-generation theoretical approach to literature that dismisses the possibility of truth, coherent narratives, and, of course, intentionality the authors breathe new life back into "the author" and, also, literary theory. This book is essential reading for anyone in the humanities who has an interest in critical thought, hermeneutics, and all forms of interpretive technique.

Author : Renée Watson
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 357 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2015-02-03
Category : Young Adult Fiction
ISBN : 9781619632134

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This Side of Home by Renée Watson Pdf

Does growing up have to mean growing apart? Identical twins Maya and Nikki have always agreed on the important things-their friends, the right boys, their plans for college and the future. But before senior year begins, too many things are changing. Their neighborhood is starting to get nice-and not really in a way Maya enjoys. With houses turning into trendy coffee shops and restaurants, and neighbors, including their best friend, Essence, being pushed out, Maya's neighborhood is becoming unrecognizable. And when a new-white-family buys the house Essence's mom rented, Nikki suddenly has a new best friend and Maya has a new admirer, someone she's not sure she should like. And then there's their principal, intent on prioritizing the comfort of white students at the expense of the school's largely Black identity. What's worse, no one seems to be as alarmed by these changes as Maya is-not even Nikki. As Maya struggles to hold on, she begins to wonder where-and with whom-she belongs. From Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Renée Watson comes a poignant novel about love for home and for ourselves, embracing change, and what it means to grow up.

Author : Elizabeth Freund
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2013-10-08
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781136496417

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Return Of Reader by Elizabeth Freund Pdf

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Author : Andrew Bennett
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2014-07-15
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781317893905

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Readers and Reading by Andrew Bennett Pdf

Much literary criticism focuses on literary producers and their products, but an important part of such work considers the end-user, the reader. It asks such questions as: how far can the author condition the response of the reader, and how much does the reader create the meaning of a text? Dr Bennett's collection includes important essays from such writers and critics as Wolfgang Iser, Mary Jacobus, Roger Chartier, Michel de Certeau, Shoshana Felman, Maurice Blanchot, Paul de Man and Yves Bonnefoy. It looks in turn at deconstructionist, feminist, new historicist and psychoanalytical response to the school. The book then considers the act of reading itself, discussing such issues as the uniqueness of any reading and the difficulties involved in its analysis.