Literature and Relativity

From ‘Literary Criticism and Postmodernism‘:

Postmodernism has brought us to a position where many academics truly believe that the meaning of a text remains completely inaccessible to the reader. Literary criticism is thus plunged into an abyss of relativity since, to quote again from Abrams, “the meaning of any text remains radically ‘open’ to contradictory readings.”

Not only does it become impossible ever to know what the author truly meant, but it becomes presumptuous even to try. Even in those cases where the author has clearly explained his meaning, we cannot bridge the inaccessible chasm between his mind and ours. All we find is isolated words that echo back to us our own stories, like someone projecting his own emotions onto Mona Lisa’s smile.

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