Suchergebnisse

Two recent Shakespeare interpretations by pol'al theorists (H. V. Jaffa on `King Lear', Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev., Jun, 1957 & Bloom [See SA A0625]) raise serious questions about the proper application of pol'al theory to literary texts. Bloom abstracts from the text concepts so tenuous & remote that they assume an independent existence & distort what they are intended to illuminate. Jaffa builds his interpretation on deductions from largely a priori principles, achieving an imposing internal coherence at the cost of ignoring the carefully patterned texture of the play. Both authors approach their texts from premises partly extra-poetic & partly prescriptive, instead of submitting, as the interpreter must, to the unique fact which a true poem is. IPSA.