Semantics Circle: Aesthetic Interpretation

Abstract

This talk considers the interpretation of literary texts. Semantic work on literature has concentrated on how text-internal mechanisms work to construct fictional worlds, an application of tools used for truth-conducive communication more generally. But little attention has been given to the effects and aims of literary texts: the way in which they affect readers and how this interfaces with literary interpretation. I propose a framework which understands such texts in terms of the responses they produce and the kinds of symbolic structures that can be derived from them, and then turn to questions of trust and sincerity in literary production and interpretation.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83300759424?pwd=Z2VHVFAvdjIwZ3psYjk3OG5lekpOZz09
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