The position of auto/biographical method within reader-response theory, and its implications for the reading of auto/biography

Abstract

In this thesis I examine to what extent, and how, auto/biographical method has its theoretical base within reader-response theory.

I begin by reviewing significant literature pertaining to auto/biographical method. This includes works on the concept of temporality, and on current understandings of narrative as it relates to such aspects as self and identity, and truth and fiction, as found in the writings of Denzin and others. I explore the relevance of phenomenology and hermeneutics in the work of a number of theorists, as well as writings on psychoanalytical and psychological aspects of auto/biographical method.

My review of relevant literature within reader-response theory begins with works on the reading of narrative, the position of the reader, and the establishing of identity through textual interpretation. The notion of 'literary competence' and of an interpretive community is examined, as is the nature of literary meaning and the concept of textual indeterminacy, found in the work of Iser and others.

The discussion of narrative theory begins with an examination of the position of both the narrator and the reader in the written work, and Iser's ideas on viewpoint and indeterminacy in texts are linked with Derrida's ideas on difference and on the decentering of the text. From this follows a discussion on concepts of 'truth' and 'fiction' in texts.

I next point out theoretical links between notions of the identity and function of the self as subject, for example in Ricoeur's narrative theory of personal identity.

The importance of the function, and indeed the location, of the author in both auto/biographical method and reader-response theory are examined next. This is followed by a consideration of the two theoretical positions on how the individual functions within a social context, given the growing importance of aspects of biographical theory in sociology.

Finally, I discuss how hermeneutical principles may be applied to modern biographical theory, and, moreover, how the hermeneutical circle may help to define the reading process.

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