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Title: Interpretation and Overinterpretation by Umberto Eco, Stefan Collini, Jonathan Culler, Richard Rorty, Christine Brooke-Rose ISBN: 0-521-42554-9 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 05 March, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Dense material in a very compact, readable form
Comment: When reading a text, how much does what the author intended count for, if anything? Is there any way to tell what a text "really" means, or can it be read however you like for whatever purpose you like? Simple as they seem, these are the fundamental questions this book is concerned with, and it is Eco's task to explain why he thinks there should be limits to interpretation - against the prevailing opinions of many modern critics and thinkers.
The book is laid out in eight sections. The first is the Introduction, which is substantial. If you're in the habit of skipping the introduction I would advise against it here, unless you consider yourself thoroughly familiar with the subject - it's helpful.
The next three sections consist of a series of lectures Eco gave on this subject, where he establishes his main points. It's quite accessible to the layman, and in the few places where the terms get a bit obscure you can usually figure out what he's talking about from the context. He uses several historical examples which keep things interesting, and his arguments are interesting whether you find them convincing or not.
Essays by Rorty, Culler and Brooke-Rose in response to these lectures make up the next part. Rorty, a self-described "pragmatist", makes the argument that we shouldn't concern ourselves with what makes a "valid" interpretation, and instead just use texts as they come before us for whatever purpose suits us best. Culler, coming from the side of the deconstructionists, argues that what Eco calls "overinterpretation" has a value of its own and reacts strongly to the implication that there should be any limits whatsoever imposed upon the critic. Brooke-Rose's piece on "palimpsest history" is not uninteresting but somewhat tangential, and you really have to stretch things to relate it to the argument going on between Eco, Rorty and Culler.
The wrap-up section is a response from Eco, mostly addressing Rorty's points though dealing somewhat with Culler's objections. There is no clear "winner", and you may not be swayed to Eco's point of view if you found one of the others more compelling, but there is ample food for thought.
Rating: 5
Summary: Even for the non-academic, a great insightfull book
Comment: I don't have much background in literary theory, but I still found Eco's writing very accessible and very enjoyable. I think the topic would interest anyone that has ever tried to appreciate literature: up to what point can we take events in a book/play/poem to be significant to the idea the writer is trying to get across?
This book constructs its arguments from the ground up, although at times the approach to interpretation taken by Eco is radically different from how one would be accustumed to reading a book.
I believe that eventually one gets used to the different approaches suggested -- or better, exemplified -- by Eco, and the initial difficulties in understanding his point of view are overcome to open a great new horizon of ideas and literary enjoyment.
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Title: The Limits of Interpretation (Advances in Semiotics) by Umberto Eco ISBN: 0253208696 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: March, 1994 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts by Umberto Eco ISBN: 025320318X Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: March, 1984 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language by Umberto Eco ISBN: 0253203988 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: July, 1986 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Elements of Semiology by Roland Barthes ISBN: 0374521468 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1977 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyon to Beckett by Wolfgang Iser ISBN: 0801821509 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 1978 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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