|
| |
A: Matters to be brought to the text for use in the
decoding of the text
accessibility of allusion, or reference
access to historical references, to cultural allusions, to literary
allusions, and recognition of their relevance or meaningfulness in the
text
conventions of reading
including 1) conventions of significance (raising the meaning to its
most general application), of metaphorical coherence, and of thematic
unity, which all help to create the meaningfulness of 'literature'; 2)
conventions as to the way in which texts 'represent' 'reality'; and 3)
conventions of interpretation, of how texts are read -- e.g. formally,
ideologically, psychoanalytically, 'morally' , etc.
history of interpretation
knowledge of traditions of reading and of interpretation -- for
instance, the Hamlet which we read (have been taught to read) has
been interpreted before us and for us.
|
| usage of genre
knowledge of the characteristics and conventions of various genre, of
for instance irony in satire; and knowledge of the typical topics of the
genre, e.g. heroism, romantic love etc.; historical knowledge of the
same, i.e. what were the expectations of the various kinds of comedies
held by Shakespeare's contemporaries
attunement to polysemy
to the multi-valence of words, to connotative force, to metaphor and
metonymy and other rhetorical structures and devices; to historical uses
of these
knowledge of the extensional world
judging inference, probability; attributing causality; assigning truth
values
|
B: "THE TEXT" as a coded structure
The rhetorical, formal, linguistic, allusive strategies which guide -- or
create, or evoke -- the readers' responses, including: association and
interconnection of culturally empowered images, ideas, situations; the
contextual loading of words, images, episodes and characters; plotting devices;
genre markers; rhetorical structures; multi-valence; ambiguity.
C: Contexualizations of reading and meaning
the personal world
the realm of personal associations, experiences, ideals and images
the needs of persons
innate (or socialized) desires for freedom, happiness, connection and
coherence; genuine, pervasive hopes and desires shared at some level of
consciousness by all
the motive of the particular reading
explicit and implicit motives and norms -- reading for a course, reading
to improve social status, reading for entertainment or understanding,
etc.
the sociology of reading
who reads and why, with what social expectations and delimitations --
e.g. considerations of class, of social mobility and use, of relation of
reading to social and political life; the distinctions between 'high'
and 'popular', 'good' and 'bad' literature
socio-political perspective
the social and political situation and perspective from which the text
will be read and from which the matter of the text will be viewed
|
| socio-political references
references which the reader may apply to her or his social or political
milieu -- e.g. in novels of manners, satires against corrupt
governments, etc.
the world(s) of discourse
the use of language as it structures our understanding of social and
power relations; the language and rhetoric of the text in relation to
that of other arenas of social meaning and power; the (cultural) way in
which we have learned to speak of (which our culture enables and permits
us to speak of) our various experiences, ideas and desires
ideology & world-view
understandings of what is natural, how the world works -- particularly
as these relate to the exercise of power and as they legitimate dominant
interests; our understanding of the over-arching, or foundational, frame
of things, the ontological and moral ground of being itself, of
knowledge, and of the human
the world of fact
what is and is not the case, as we understand (know) it 'in reality' to
be
|
© 1997, 2000 John Lye.
|