Postmodernism And Anti-interpretation Of The Theory,

The dissertation is composed of literature review and introduction and six chapters. In the literature review, the current research situation about the topic against interpretation home and abroad is reviewd, and the innovation and significance of the dissertation are put forward. The introduction generally argues for the topic, and summarizes the chief points. It briefly describes and defines the basic concepts of "interpretation" and "against-interpretation". Furthermore, it diachronically surveys the concrete embodiment of interpretation and against-interpretation during the period of modernism and post-modernism. The paper points out that "interpretation" is a method of study of " the Bible" in the original meaning. It changes into a general methodology studying the humanities after the start of the Renaissance and the Reformation, and it has already become a basic mode of thought that touches and understands all sorts of texts, even dominant one in the field of the humanities nowadays. Post-modernism being against the depths and content after 1960s, the notion of interpretation just for pursuing the original intention (of God or author) faces big challenges. Thereupon, the claim against interpretation is brought forward. According to Susan Sontag, Against-interpretation is to break away from all the existing cultural notions, especially to abandon the load of the sense of history and flatten the depths so that the life can be experienced directly. As far as Sontag and those who share ideas with her are concerned, against-interpretation is only a attitude or strategy in fact. They are against not interpretation itself but arbitrary monism. They advocate an intersubjectivity, namely a harmonious state of equal dialogue and numerous distinct ideas coexistence. In this sense, a post-modern ecological consciousness or subsisting ethic is connoted within the idea against interpretation. The evolution of cultural paradigm from modernism to post-modernism means in fact the change of composing rules and meaning mode of aesthetic discourse, and interpretation and against-interpretation are just the best description about this change.Chapter one is a summary of the dissertation. It comprehensively analyzes the origin and development of the theory against interpretation mainly from the western social, political, cultural context in the second half of the twentieth century, pointing out its roots of society and thoughts. The paper firstly examines the philosophical background. It holds that philosophical currents such as phenomenology and existentialism have an effect on this theory to some degree, and then traces the inner logic of origin and development of the theory from post-modernism and "anti-cultural" trend. Afterwards, it generalizes several important post-modern theorists such as Alain Robbe-Grillet, Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Jean Baudrillard and so on. The paper proposes that "against-interpretation" is not only a literary critical claim, but also a cultural theory. Its attitude that overthrows and rebells tradition makes it inevitably tend towards the logic of deconstruction.Chapter two, chapter three and chapter four analyze in detail of Robbe-Grillet, sontag and Baudrillard respectively, and systematicly discuss the aesthetics pursuit and the cultural significance of the theory against interpretation through comparing the thoughts of them. Chapter two, "Alain Robbe-Grillet: Giving up the Old Myth concerning Depth", questions and criticizes the traditional novel concept of Balzac in the first place, summing up his artistic opinions against interpretation: deconstructing narration, clearing up character; flattening depth, removing meaning. Then, taking "jealousness" for example, make a theoretical representation of major cultural features of surface novel—a future one advocated by him. Chapter three, "Susan Sontag: Against Interpretation and New Sensibility", specifically comments sontag's particular avant-garde ideas and determination against traditional culture by explaining throughly three aspects of the temperament of aestheticism, artistic eroticism and metaphor of illness. Chapter four "Baudrillard: the Absence of Meaning", analyzes post-modern media theory and simulacrum, hyperreality, implosion of Baudrillard, so that the era characteristic of against-interpretation is revealed. Futhermore, the paper discusses his artistic opinions in the electronic media age: that is to say, hyperrealistic text made of signs ends subjectivity, meaning and history completely, so interpretation is also ended.;Chapter five "Theoretical Features of Against-interpretation" analyzes and comments furtherly the theory against interpretation based on above chapters. It points out its theoretical background of the linguistic turn and structuralism. Because advocates of the theory hold a particular perspective—literature recreates reality, literature is a linguistic action referring to nothing, they deny the concept that literature is carrier of meaning, and they are against interpretation. According to this understanding, the paper believes that the theory against interpretation should be regarded as a formalistic aesthetics or poetics. At the same time, it shoud be put in the system of Hermeneutics, say, looked upon as a stage of Hermeneutics—post-modern Hermeneutics.Chapter six, "after Against-interpretation: Approaching Textual Sociology", makes a logical consideration and conclusion. The paper holds that the basic pursuit of the theory against interpretation is textual sociology, and such a theory trend is predicated by twentieth century formalistic turn of modern sociology and cultural turn of contemporary critical theories.