The Varieties of Authorial Intention

Literary Theory Beyond the Intentional Fallacy
Softcover Nachdruck of the original 1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-3-319-84059-8
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 274 Seiten, Previously published in hardcover, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 376 g

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.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Farrell, John

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturtheorie: Poetik und Literaturästhetik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface.- Introduction: The Origins of an Intellectual Taboo.- Chapter One: Actions, Intentions, Authors, Works.- Chapter Two: Uncertainty, Indeterminacy, Omniscience, and Other Matters.- Chapter Three: Unconscious Intentions.- Chapter Four: Authorship and Literary Value.- Conclusion.-

Über Autor(innen)

John Farrell is Professor of Literature at Claremont McKenna College, USA. He is also the author of Paranoia and Modernity and Freud’s Paranoid Quest .