Social Sciences in China

Vol. 38, No. 4, 2017

 

SPECIAL ISSUE: A DISCUSSION ON THE SOURCE OF MEANING OF LITERARY WORKS

 

The Relational Attributes of the Meaning of Literary Works

(Abstract)

 

Gao Nan

 

The meaning of literary works arises from the reception and transformation of the works by their receivers. It is through understanding via experience that this work-receiver relationship is realized in literary reception. In literary reception, meaning assumes multiple forms, including the perceptual and experiential form, the universal and general form, and the historical and continuous form. The realistic foundation of meaning is pluralistic; it is the unfolding of structurality and contextuality of the real history in literary reception and transformation. The reality’s deconstruction and construction of the historical structure appear in the form of specific issues and draw the attention of reception, and give rise to the expectation of meaning in this reception. The reception of meaning is based on such an expectation, so the meaning is constrained by the already existing expectation. Meaning has non-linguisticity, which comes from the non-linguisticity of the implications of literary works and that of literary reception, and is revealed in the interaction of the two in the receptive relations. The non-linguistic meaning is universal.

 

Keywords: literary work, meaning, relationship