On E.D.Hirsch’s Theory Of The Author’s Intention

Since the twentieth century,the question of the author’s intention has undergone a more careful and more thorough discussion.The main object of this study is the American scholar Hirsch’s theory of the author’s intention.Based on the conclusion of relevant cultural backgrounds and important ideological resources,this essay tries to outline the unique outlook of the author’s intention in Hirsch’s theory,and to bring helpful suggestions to contemporary Chinese literary theory.This essay consists of five parts:The first chapter is an introduction.It represents the reasons of the selection of the topic,the resources pertinent to Hirsch at home and abroad,and the basic viewpoints and structural arrangement of the study.The second chapter elaborates the basis and important representatives of the theory of the author’s intention.Firstly,based on the notion of "subject",it concerns about the complexity and the existing pattern of the concept "author" in contemporary context.Secondly,following the thread of Hirsch’s argument,it reviews three representative opinions on the author’s intention in different backgrounds.Thirdly,it analyses the thesis of "ethics" which is the deep motivation of Hirsch’s theory.In Hirsch’s theoretical system,the understanding of the author’s intention is no longer convenient ways to explore the meaning of the text,but one kind of moral requirement which should be met prudently.Furthermore,Hirsch’s theory contains a lot of specific and detailed questions:the self and the other,freedom and restrictions,as well as the spiritual duties of human beings.The third chapter focuses on the unique identification of intention in Hirsch’s theory.Hirsch always treats the author’s intention as the most reliable ways to achieve the objectivity and validity of interpretation.And intention of this kind shows a multilevel nature.First,he conceives intention as a firm "intentional object",and indicates the historical continuity of intention to the readers through a deeper understanding of Husserl’s "intentionality".Second,he emphasizes that intention is prior to language,while recognizing that intention can not be completely divorced from language and should be specified and clarified by the role of public language.Third,he confirms the close association between intention and context,and argues that intention should be positioned as a state of "probability",and should become more and more accurate through the sustained efforts of interpreters.The fourth chapter continues the discussion of the determinacy of the meaning,which is evoked by the question of the author’s intention raised by Hirsch.First,Hirsch’s criticism on the view that consensus is impossible to be reached and meaning is of uncertainty(i.e.the so-called "atheism")is to be discussed,from which his agnostic view of the certainty of meaning is clearly shown.Second,two key concepts,i.e."meaning" and "significance",in Hirsch’s theory of meaning will be analyzed.Their underlying connotation is to be unearthed,and their development and evolution in Hirsch’s theory traced.Third,further description of the certainty principle demonstrated as a unique "willed type" in Hirsch’s theory will be given.With the existence of the zeitgeist where solid and uniform centralized meaning is being continuously weakened,the influence of Hirsch’s contemplation is extremely important.The fifth chapter is a conclusion,which analyses the consistency and the difference between Hirsch’s theory and ancient Chinese theoretical resources,and summarizes the practical significance of Hirsch’s theory to contemporary Chinese literary theory as well as social and cultural life.