Wolfgang Iser: A Companion

Description

Although Wolfgang Iser is one of the most influential literary theorists of the twentieth century, there is no authoritative study about his oeuvre. The present work remedies that problem by analysing Iser’s German and English writings in detail. Apart from being the first comprehensive account of his work, this study also modifies the established view of Iser’s theory. In contrast to the idea that his only contribution to literary studies is the reception theory of the 1970s, this account demonstrates the importance of Iser’s work on history and anthropology from the 1950s and 1990s. Instead of exclusively focusing on familiar terms such as ‘indeterminacy’, this analysis also discusses Iser’s view of modernity, fiction and culture. As this discussion shows, his writings develop a consistent theory of the novel and the way in which it allows its readers to articulate new views of reality. To situate this theory, Iser’s institutional and intellectual background is described as well, paying special attention to the Poetik und Hermeneutik-circle and thinkers like Blumenberg and Kermode. The continued relevance of his theory is demonstrated via comparisons with recent research on the novel and memory as well as examples from contemporary novelists like Juli Zeh and Hilary Mantel. Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Comic and Aesthetic Novels Beyond Geistesgeschichte Kierkegaard and the Aesthetic The Prehistory of Modernity An Applied Philosophy of Life Example 1: Juli Zeh, Spieltrieb Chapter 2. Montage and Modernity The Implied Modernist The Waxing of the Modern Ages In the Midst of History Example 2: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Chapter 3. The Phenomenology of Reading The Modern Reader The Quasi-Reality of Fiction Duration, Imagination, Transformation Negativity and Harmony The Sublime and the Screen Example 3: Miguel Syjuco, Ilustrado (1) Chapter 4. Fictions, Roles and Games The Act of Reading 2.0 The Origin of Fictionalizing Acts The (In)distinction of Fiction & Imagination Games and Stagings Literary Anthropologies Example 4: China Mieville, The City & The City Chapter 5. The Recursions of Culture The Translations of Theory The Range of Recursion Rippled Surfaces Example 5: Miguel Syjuco, Ilustrado (2) Conclusion. Modernity, Meaning and Humanity Wolfgang Iser: A Bibliography Name Index