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This book explores the logic and historical origins of a strange taboo that has haunted literary critics since the 1940s, keeping them from referring to the intentions of authors without apology. The taboo was enforced by a seminal article, “The Intentional Fallacy,” and it deepened during the era of poststructuralist theory. Even now, when the vocabulary of “critique” that has dominated the literary field is under sweeping revision, the matter of authorial intention has yet to be reconsidered. This workexplains how “The Intentional Fallacy” confused different kinds of authorial intentions and how literary critics can benefit from a more up-to-date understanding of intentionality in language. The result is a challenging inventory of the resources of literary theory, including implied readers, poetic speakers, omniscient narrators, interpretive communities, linguistic indeterminacy, unconscious meaning, literary value, and the nature of literature itself.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-48977-3

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Introduction

Farrell John

1-19

Actions, intentions, authors, works

Farrell John

21-108

Uncertainty, indeterminacy, omniscience, and other matters

Farrell John

109-160

Unconscious and transindividual intentions

Farrell John

161-197

Authorship and literary value

Farrell John

199-237

Conclusion

Farrell John

239-243