To what extent, and in what ways, does the meaning of a literary text rest with its reader?
The dictionary definition of the word ‘meaning’ is ‘what is meant by a word, text, concept, or action’. I will be focussing on what is meant by literary texts, and whether meaning is a single fixed idea created when the text is written by the author and is unable to change in any time or situation. Or whether meaning is a malleable form in which certain variables, such as the readers’ gender, class, age, or the timeframe the text is read in, and the texts age can affect it. My belief is that meaning is subjective, as time passes and the world changes socially, academically, and financially, ideas in literature can become irrelevant, absurd or even sometimes offensive to the newer society. New meanings can be applied to old texts also as the readers lifestyles and views change. This is where ‘reception theory’ becomes relevant and important. The Readers Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory explains that Hans Robert Jauss added a historical component to the previously inadequate reception theory, creating a new theory entitled the ‘horizon of expectations’. This ‘described the criteria readers use to judge literary texts in any given period’, this aids the reader to judge a poems genre and will also help to clarify what is regarded and poetic or literary language. Jauss stated ‘A literary work is not an object which stands by itself and which offers the same face to each reader in each period. It is not a monument which reveals its timeless essence in a monologue’. This means we are unable to review the rise and fall of a text through to the present day, and determine its final significance, doing so would be to ignore our own history,...
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...s. Literary theory : the basics. London, England: Taylor & Francis, 2010.
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Browning, Robert. "My Last Duchess." The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Ed. Margaret Ferguson and Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. London: Norton & Company, 2005. 1012-1016.
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There are many times in which a reader will interpret a piece of literature in a way that was completely unintended by the author. In her article, “In the Canon, for All the Wrong Reasons”, Amy Tan discusses people telling her the meaning behind her own stories, her experiences with criticism, and how this has affected her approach to writing moving forward. While this may seem ironic, considering the topic, I have my own interpretations of this article. Firstly, Amy Tan addresses how people will often tell her what her own work means and the symbolism in her writing.
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reader creates “supplementary meaning” to the text by unconsciously setting up tension, also called binary opposition. Culler describes this process in his statement “The process of thematic interpretation requires us to move from facts towards values, so we can develop each thematic complex, retaining the opposition between them” (294). Though supplementary meaning created within the text can take many forms, within V...
Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” is a haunting poem that tells the story of a seemingly perfect wife who dies, and then is immortalized in a picture by her kind and loving husband. This seems to be the perfect family that a tragic accident has destroyed. Upon further investigation and dissection of the poem, we discover the imperfections and this perfect “dream family” is shown for what it really was, a relationship without trust.
Raman Selden, Peter Widdowson, and Peter Brooker. A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. 4th ed. London: Prentice Hall and Harvester Wheatrsheaf. 1997.
In conclusion, I would say that the power of literature is connoted exactly in this unparalleled symbolic order of language that can never produce or pin down a definite meaning but nevertheless passes on "the desire and curse of meaning”. It is what the transcendent signification of the text that leaves the reader always anticipating and curious and at the same time delighted from the pleasure this play of the authors brings to her/him. On the other hand there is always this uncanny component of meaning that cannot be clarified or rationalized but nevertheless is an intrinsic part to our reading experience.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996.
W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley are two of the most famous New Critical theorists. Their essay, “The Intentional Fallacy” impacted and further developed the study of New Criticism. It even has a profound impact on the way scholars practice criticism now. “The Intentional Fallacy” exposes the various “fallacious” or mistaken approaches to the interpretation of literature. It is false to believe that literature follows through with what the assumed purpose is from the author himself. Wimsatt and Beardsley argue that there are a whole variety of meanings of which the author might even be unaware of or never intended to be. If the audience can produce textual evidence, that meaning is valid. Meaning is found within the text itself and not within the intentions of the author. If the reader focuses on the intentions of the author, that is a fallacy or a mistaken approach to the
In "My Last Duchess", by Robert Browning, the character of Duke is portrayed as having controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits. These traits are not all mentioned verbally, but mainly through his actions. In the beginning of the poem the painting of the Dukes wife is introduced to us: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/ looking as of she were still alive" (1-2). These lines leave us with the suspicion that the Duchess is no longer alive, but at this point were are not totally sure. In this essay I will discuss the Dukes controlling, jealous and arrogant traits he possesses through out the poem.
In their essay, ‘The Intentional Fallacy’ (1946), William K. Wimsatt Jr. and Monroe C. Beardsley, two of the most eminent figures of the New Criticism school of thought of Literary Criticism, argue that the ‘intention’ of the author is not a necessary factor in the reading of a text.