In Defence of Literary Interpretation: Theory and Practice

by K.M. Newton

This study argues that the special nature of literary discourse makes interpretation unavoidable. But if it is to continue to command respect as a form of critical practice critics should change the approach they have tended to adopt. Since literary meaning is so radically unstable and there are no criteria that can provide absolute justification for preferring one reading of a text to another, the interpreter should recognize that he is engaged not in a search for 'truth' or 'validity' but in a struggle for power.

246 pages, Hardcover

First published November 14, 1986