The Task of the Interpreter: Text, Meaning, and Negotiation - Softcover

Vandevelde, Pol

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822958848 ISBN 13: 9780822958840

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005

Synopsis

The Task of the Interpreter offers a new approach to what it means to interpret a text, and reconciles the possibility of multiple interpretations with the need to consider the author’s intention.  Vandevelde argues that interpretation is both an act and an event:  It is an act in that interpreters, through the statements they make, implicitly commit themselves to justifying their positions, if prompted.  It is an event in that interpreters are situated in a cultural and historical framework and come to a text with questions, concerns, and methods of which they are not fully conscious.  These two aspects make interpretation a negotiation of meaning. The Task of the Interpreter provides an interdisciplinary investigation of textual interpretation including biblical hermeneutics (Gregory the Great’s Homilies on Ezekiel), translation (Homer’s The Odyssey), and literary fictions (Grass’s Dog Years and Sabato’s On Heroes and Tombs).  Vandevelde’s philosophical discussion will appeal to theorists of both continental and analytical/pragmatic traditions.

About this title

About the Author

Pol Vandevelde is associate professor of philosophy at Marquette University. He is the author of Être et discours. La question du langage dans l’itinéraire de Heidegger (1927–1938).

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0822958848
• ISBN 13: 9780822958840
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240