Book•
The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett
01 Jan 1974-
TL;DR: Iser as mentioned in this paper analyzed major works of English fiction ranging from Bunyan, Fielding, Scott, and Thackeray to Joyce and Beckett, and provided a framework for a theory of such literary effects and aesthetic responses.
Abstract: Like no other art form, the novel confronts its readers with circumstances arising from their own environment of social and historical norms and stimulates them to assess and criticize their surroundings. By analyzing major works of English fiction ranging from Bunyan, Fielding, Scott, and Thackeray to Joyce and Beckett, renowned critic Wolfgang Iser here provides a framework for a theory of such literary effects and aesthetic responses. Iser's focus is on the theme of discovery, whereby the reader is given the chance to recognize the deficiencies of his own existence and the suggested solutions to counterbalance them. The content and form of this discovery is the calculated response of the reader -- the implied reader. In discovering the expectations and presuppositions that underlie all his perceptions, the reader learns to "read" himself as he does the text.
Citations
More filters
01 Jan 2018
TL;DR: The authors compared the reception of the Beat Generation authors in the United States and Czech lands in two different time-periods: in the 1950s and 1960s of the 20th century and then from 1990s until today.
Abstract: The book compares the reception of the Beat Generation authors
in the United States and the Czech lands in two different time
periods: in the 1950s and 1960s of the 20th century and then
from 1990s until today. While the works of the Beat Generation
authors remained the same, the contexts of the Beat
publications could not have been more different: American
critics frequently reduced the works of the Beats to a juvenile
promotion of sex, drugs, and even violence; for Czechoslovak
readers, the works of the Beats sharply contrasted with the
official literature which followed the doctrine of socialist
realism. Therefore, this study comments on how different
contexts shape the readers’ approaches to a literary text and
their author, which then in turn help transform said text into
a different work of art.
1 citations
Dissertation•
10 May 2012
TL;DR: In this article, Gallant: l'identita di una scrittrice 211 2. Identificare i linguaggi: modello teorico essenziale e casi studio esemplificativi 218 3. Parole silenziose e oggetti parlanti nei ‘romanzi’ di Mavis Gallant 225 Conclusioni 230 Selected Bibliography 231 1.4 Selected Works of Non-Fiction 233 1.5 Manuscript Collection 234 2.
Abstract: 209 1. Mavis Gallant: l’identita di una scrittrice 211 2. Identificare i linguaggi: modello teorico essenziale e casi studio esemplificativi 218 3. Parole silenziose e oggetti parlanti nei ‘romanzi’ di Mavis Gallant 225 Conclusioni 230 Selected Bibliography 231 1. Works by Mavis Gallant 231 1.1 Collections of Stories 231 1.2 Novels 233 1.3 Theatre 233 1.4 Selected Works of Non-Fiction 233 1.5 Manuscript Collection 234 2. Works on Mavis Gallant 235 3. Other Works 252
1 citations
01 Jul 2003
1 citations
Dissertation•
01 Apr 2014
TL;DR: The authors consider the influence of the writing of Samuel Beckett on that of Paul Auster, John Banville and J.M. Coetzee through the lens of Romantic irony, as formulated by Friedrich Schlegel and Paul de Man.
Abstract: This thesis considers the influence of the writing of Samuel Beckett on that of Paul Auster, John Banville and J.M. Coetzee through the lens of Romantic irony, as formulated by Friedrich Schlegel and, later, Paul de Man. The broad argument is that the form of irony first articulated by the Jena Romantics is brought in Beckett’s work to something of an extreme, and that this extremity represents both one of his most characteristic achievements and a unique and specifically troublesome challenge for those who come after him. The thesis hence explores how Auster, Banville and Coetzee respond to and negotiate this irony in their own work, and contrasts their respective responses. Put briefly, I find that all three writers to one extent or another deflect Beckett’s irony, while engaging with it: Auster adopts certain stylistic and structural aspects of Beckett’s work, but on the whole reaches fundamentally different epistemological and existential conclusions; Banville engages closely with the epistemological and existential challenge posed by Beckett’s irony, and attempts to balance this with a contrasting sense of the capacity of art and the imagination to make meaning of the world; and Coetzee, after an initial attempt at stylistic imitation, moves away from this but remains fundamentally influenced by certain insights into subjectivity and ethical relation he derives from Beckett’s work. Of Auster’s work, I consider most closely ‘White Spaces’ and The New York Trilogy, arguing that the former represents a transitional development toward the tone, perspective and voice of the latter; of Banville’s, Doctor Copernicus and Eclipse, contrasting the former’s confidence in human capacities for knowledge of the world and the self with the latter’s more Beckettian skepticism and disenchantment; and of Coetzee’s, In the Heart of the Country with Waiting for the Barbarians, showing how the latter abandons the former’s marked Beckettian stylistic traces while continuing to evidence the influence of Beckett’s work in the depiction of matters such as subjectivity, language and interpersonal relation. By way of conclusion, I consider how such later writing might reshape or alter our understanding of Beckett’s work, and propose directions for further research into the place of Romantic irony in Modern and contemporary fiction.
1 citations
Book•
25 Mar 2021TL;DR: In Influence: On Rhetoric and Biblical Interpretation, Michal Beth Dinkler argues that the Bible is by nature rhetorical and that understanding the art of persuasion is therefore vital for navigating biblical literature and its interpretation as discussed by the authors.
Abstract:
The influence of the Bible in human history is staggering. Biblical texts have inspired grand social advancements, intellectual inquiries, and aesthetic achievements. Yet, the Bible has also given rise to hatred, violence, and oppression—often with deadly consequences. How does the Bible exert such extraordinary influence? The short answer is rhetoric. In Influence: On Rhetoric and Biblical Interpretation, Michal Beth Dinkler demonstrates that, contrary to popular opinion, rhetoric is not inherently “empty” or disingenuous. Rhetoric refers to the art of persuasion. Dinkler argues that the Bible is by nature rhetorical, and that understanding the art of persuasion is therefore vital for navigating biblical literature and its interpretation. Influence invites readers to think critically about biblical rhetoric and the rhetoric of biblical interpretation, and offers a clear and compelling guide for how to do so.
1 citations