The Interpretation of Literature and Reception Theory: Reconstructing the “Logic of the Poetic Event”

Abstract

With this outline I will demonstrate how Alfred Schutz theory of the lifeworld including his theory of symbol includes a specific theoretical potential for the interpretation of literary texts. It specifically serves for the analysis of the triad of author, literary work and reader involved in the aesthetic process and furthermore, it is suitable to develop a reception theory. Processes of meaning giving by the recipient in this context are decisive for the functioning of the work of art as such. Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem “The Raven” (Poe, 1965 [1845]) serves as an example I will use to demonstrate how reception aesthetics forms part of the functioning of the work of art in general.