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TomaszKalaga
BetweenTheoryandNarratve:
AMaskasaHermetextualArtefact
in“TheCaskofAmontllado”byEdgarAllanPoe
Thepresentpaperisessentiallyanexperimentintheliminalfield
betweenliterarytheoryandtextualreading.Thenarrativeanditsfield
oftextualdevicesisconsideredtobelongtoadiferentcategorythan
theactofreading:thefirstiscommonlyunderstoodasthe“content,”
theotheras“themethod”ofinterpretation.Hermeneutictheory,which
veryfrequentlyconceptualizestheactofreadinginphilosophical
terms,wouldconsiderpresumptuousanyattempttodevotespecial
treatmenttoaparticularsymbolinthecontextoftheoreticalapproach
tointerpretation.Generallyspeaking,bothtraditionalandmodern
hermeneuticsprovideaframework,ratherthancriteriaorwaypointsfor
textualreadings.Theonlyplaceswherewemayfindconcreteblueprints
fornarrativeinterpretationarehermeneuticschoolswhichareinspired
byorderivedfromtheoriesthatarenotthemselvesofliterarycharacter.
Thisarticlewillexplorethepossibilityandconditionsfortreating
atextualentityasprivilegedinrelevancebothtotheinternal
structureofthetextanda“general”hermeneutictheorythatservesas
amethodologyforitsdescription.
Thereexist,ofcourse,anumberoftextualapproacheswhereliterary
artefactsofacertainkindareespeciallyrelevant.ThusaFreudian
interpretationwouldbeparticularlyawareofsymbolismembedded
inpsychoanalytictheory;afeministreadingwouldfocusonelements
indicativeofgenderpowerrelations;aMarxistwouldbeonthelookout
forsignsofclassstruggleandcapitalinfluence.Oversimplificationasit
maybe,thisservestoturnourattentiontothefactthatperspectiveson
interpretationwhicharenotideologicallymarked(atleastbytheirown
definition!),butbasedonvariousunderstandingsoftheprincipleofthe
hermeneuticcircle,donotfavouranyparticulartextualelementoverany
other.Theemphasisthattheyplaceonthecoherenceofinterpretationis
