Cuccuru, Kathrine Maree;
(2015)
The Nature of Author Relevance in Literary Interpretation.
Masters thesis (M.Phil.Stud), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
One ongoing debate in literary interpretation focuses on the relevance (or not) of the author to interpreting a literary work‟s meaning. Traditionally the dominant opposing positions in this debate are intentionalism, where the author‟s intentions are relevant to and even determinate of meaning, and (strong) anti-intentionalism, where the author is in no way relevant to interpretation. In this thesis I demonstrate that these two positions do not form a straightforward opposition. I show that this arises from a dialectical mixing of metaphysical claims and methodological claims. For example, if an intentionalist argues that the meaning of a work is metaphysically determined by its author‟s intentions then the anti-intentionalist response may be that accessing the author‟s actual intentions are methodologically impossible for the interpreter. Resulting from this I frame the debate in terms of metaphysical questions of meaning and methodological questions of interpretation. In my discussion of the metaphysics of meaning I show that there is at least a minimal sense in which the author is relevant to the meaning of a work. I argue that there are features of the work that the author, due to his or her historical and geographical context, could not help but have included in it, and in this sense the author limits the meaning of a work. Following this, my discussion of the methodology of interpretation argues that a reasonable regulatory question for interpretive practice is: what could the author possibly mean? Finally I consider my conclusions in relation to the most recent positions in the debate, showing that they are best reflected in Alexander Nehamas‟ “postulated author”.
| Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | M.Phil.Stud |
| Title: | The Nature of Author Relevance in Literary Interpretation |
| Event: | University College London |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1470358 |
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