Interpretation as Pragmatics

by Jean-Jacques Lecercle

Does interpretation have anything to do with truth? This new theory of interpretation denies this, yet it argues that some interpretations are false and some are just. These theses are justified through a pragmatic model of interpretation as a language-game involving five an author, a text, a reader, a language, and an encyclopedia. The model claims to provide an account of both literary interpretation 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.

264 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 1999

About the author

Jean-Jacques Lecercle is Professor of English at the University of Paris at Nanterre. He has published widely in the fields of philosophy of language and literary theory, and is the author of The Violence of Language, Philosophy of Nonsense, Interpretations of Pragmatics and Deleuze and Language.

Reviews

[Stephen]

It is a very interesting book indeed!

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enh. Some parts very informative. Other (especially later chapters) tedious and .. not really repetitive but just not that informative or interesting.