Neulektüren oder: die Verlegenheit des Wissens um den Autor

Author: Ibsch, Elrud

Source: Amsterdamer Beiträge zur neueren Germanistik, Neulektüren - New Readings Festschrift für Gerd Labroisse zum 80. Geburtstag Herausgegeben von Norbert Otto Eke und Gerhard P. Knapp , pp. 377-389(13)

Publisher: Rodopi

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Abstract:

New readings in the sense of new interpretations of the same text are a phenomenon of all ages. This essay focuses in particular on recent theoretical approaches that have enhanced the active role of the reader, such as reception aesthetics, reader-response theory, radical conventionalism, the empirical study of literature, and poststructuralism. "The Death of the Author" as announced by Roland Barthes signalled a climax in this development that emancipated the reader at the expense of the author. At the same time a paradoxical situation emerged. Politically and morally committed readers who from their own point of view read a particular text may discover, perhaps to their surprise, that they cannot do so without considering the presence of the author. In many cases the inevitable question is: What is the ethical position of the author? Does the author condemn the wrongs he describes or does he excuse them?

Two case studies elucidate the quandary with which readers and researchers can be confronted. The first case concerns the false identity of the author (Carl Friedman). Defective authenticity may have consequences for attributing a text to a specific genre or mode. The second case is based on a comparison between a novel and a political address, both by Martin Walser. It appeares that the literary ambiguity of the novel, behind which the author could conceal his own position, evaporates in the light of his more straightforward speech. Here, too, readers may decide to correct their initial reading.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2009-01-01