Four questions will be answered: What does the concept of interpretation comprise or refer to? Do we interpret literature differently from non-literary texts? What are the goals of interpretation – or the question of (anti)intentionalism. How many possible interpretations are there – or the question of pluralism and the acceptability of interpretation. The concept of interpretation rests primarily on the explanation of tropes or figures. We interpret literary tropes or figures in the same way that we interpret non-literary ones. When doing so, we always ask what the author wanted to say. We then put forward certain hypotheses about his or her intentions, of which only one can be right. In the
second phase of interpretation we can begin to ask what the text would mean if any of the circumstances surrounding its production were different. These alternative interpretations are referred to as
acceptable interpretations.
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