Interpretation As Pragmatics (language, Discourse, Society)

Why is it that all interpretations are possible, and none is true? That some interpretations are just, but some are false? Lecercle draws on the resources of pragmatics, literary theory and the philosophy of language to propose a new theory of literary, but also of face-to-face, dialogue that charts the interaction between the five participants in the fields of dialogue and/or interpretation: author, reader, text, language and encyclopaedia. Interpretation is taken through its four stages, from glossing and enigma solving to translation and intervention. Has interpretation anything to do with truth? This new theory of interpretation denies this, yet it argues that some interpretations are false and some are just. Such contentious theses are justified through a pragmatic model of interpretation as a language-game involving five participants: an author, a text, a reader, a language, an encyclopaedia. The model claims to provide an account of both literary interpretation (through its four stages of glossing, enigma-solving, translation into another theoretical language, and intervention) and face-to-face dialogue. The central intuition is that authorial intention is radically separated from textual meaning, and that consequently the reader's role is one of necessary imposture. The theory provides extensions of Althusser's concepts of interpellation and ideology, and envisages a corpus of texts both literary (the Ern Malley hoax) and taken from everyday life (the sentence at the heart of the Bentley case: `Let Him Have It, Chris!') "Cities are concrete realities. Words and images have long been used to describe the presence of cities and their physical impact on human life. From the nineteenth century to today, writers, critics, philosophers, architects and film-makers have shown conflicting attitudes towards the city, from rejection to idolatry. This book includes Baudelaire's Paris; Poe's urban fantasies; Hofmannsthal's and Musil's Vienna; Massimo Cacciari's Venice; and New York as conceived by Adolf Loos, Aldo Rossi, and Martin Scorcese. Cities, Words and Images reflects on the changes in human perception created by urbanization and the way in which these changes are expressed in the various arts, in terms of form and content. The urban theme is fundamental in order to understand modern art, whatever the media, and regardless of national frontiers."--Jacket Machine generated contents note: Acknowledgements vi Introduction by Colin MacCabe vii Part One: Essays I 1 Wallace Stevens' Harmonium: the Course of a Particular 3 2 On the Use of the Sonnet in Romeo and Juliet, or 'But Where's the Bloody Horse?' 52 3 The Community of Interpretation: T. S. Eliot and Josiah Royce 81 4 Hong Kong, Shanghai, the Great Wall: Bernard Shaw in China 110 Part Two: Essays II 5 The Comedy of Suffering 145 6 Totalitarian Logic: Stalin on Linguistics 164 7 Oaths and Laughter and Indecent Speech 189 8 On Linearity 212 Part Three: Memoirs 9 Piers in Hong Kong by Denis MacShane 253 10 Language: Black, White and Shades of Gray by Roy Harris 258 Index 261. "This final collection of Snead's writings range from Plato to basketball, from the classic European canon to film and television. It also publishes for the first time some of his short fiction. Years after his untimely death Snead's writings remain crucial to understanding the need to bring into conjunction the European tradition and African American culture in order to better analyse both. Snead's work is genuinely multidisciplinary crossing literature and film, English and German, black and white."--BOOK JACKET Front Matter....Pages i-vii Pragmatics of Interpretation....Pages 1-34 Let Him Have It, Chris....Pages 35-60 Alter Ego....Pages 61-88 The Reader, or: Imposture....Pages 89-117 The Author, or: Intention....Pages 118-151 Language, or: Interpellation....Pages 152-198 Encyclopaedia, or: the Pragmatics of Literature....Pages 199-231 Conclusion....Pages 232-237 Back Matter....Pages 238-251 Pragmatics Of Interpretation -- Let Him Have It, Chris -- Alter Ego -- The Reader, Or:imposture -- The Author, Or:intention -- Language, Or:interpellation -- Encyclopedia, Or:the Pragmatics Of Literature. Jean-jacques Lecercle. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.