Text

-Latin "to weave"

-"A book or other written or printed work, regarded in terms of its context rather than its physical form;

A piece of written or printed material regarded as conveying the authentic or primary form of a particular work;

Written or printed words, typically forming a connected piece of work." (OED)

-Linguistic structures or sets of signs woven together

-Meaning/content is paramount

-Text can be read/analyzed and invites interpretation

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. (Noam Chomsky)

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. (William J. Rappaport)

Text as Written or Spoken Word

-largely used in reference to word and linguistic structures

-neutral word

-For some theorists text is not a neutral word

-text vs. Text

-Work vs. Text

Boxer of Quirinal

Hellenistic period, late 4th - 2nd century B.C.E.

The Author is Dead

-by Roland Barthes (1967)

Birth of the Reader

-author and text are unrelated

-"The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author"

Context

-texts are products of their context and of the interactions between author and society, and of the context at the time of reading

Approach

-must make sure reading is supported by what is in the text itself

Critical Reading

Nietzsche's perfect reader is "a monster of courage and curiosity, also something supple, cunning, cautious, aborn adventurer and discoverer."

-subjective response

-objective response