1) Meaning in Literature and Saussure’s Theory of Language
- What are the differences between meaning of a word, a text, or an utterance?
- What does he mean when he says meaning is based on difference?
- How does meaning being based on difference relate to Saussure’s theory?
2) Language and Thoughts and Linguistic Analysis
- How does a language relate to the thoughts speakers of that language might have?
- What is the key tension between language and ideology?
- What is the key task of linguistic analysis?
3) Poetics vs. Hermeneutics
- Describe the distinctions between the two
- How do the two work together?
4) Readers and Meaning
- How do readers relate to meaning/interpretation?
- What then is the reader’s job in writing about literary interpretation?
- What is the “horizon of expectations”?
5) Interpretation
- How does he describe the process of interpretation?
- What is most important about interpretation (and not as important) and what is the reader required to
do?
6) Meaning, Intention, and Context
- What is the role of author intention in interpretation?
- What is the role of context? Why is that role so complex?
- What key distinction does he make as a concluding move?