A Text for "Nothing" of <<Texts for Nothing>>

• Main Authors: Chen, Sue-lien, 陳素連
• Other Authors: Sun, Hsiao-yu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 1994
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/57050609714140992431

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 外國語文學系 === 82 === Because of the quality of <<Texts for Nothing>>, the reader of this short story has to rearrange its fragmentary plots on his own. Hence, when reading <<Texts for Nothing>>, the reader not only perceives messages, but also sends out what he receives from the text. As a result, he plays the role of a reader and writer at the same time. Hence, the text will engerder voluminous new meanings, and the exteriority of the text will be endlessly extended as different acts of reading happen. However, when we probe into the process that the reader formulates his interpretation, we realize that the reader appeals to the presumptions of literature he knew before; he does not "create" new meanings, but instead, he "redresses" the old issues of literature. The first chapter of this thesis depicts the new position of the reader both as a reader and writer when he interprets a literary text. In addition, it explores the process of the reader''s producing his meaning, and points out that the reader''s meaning refers to the heritage of literature. The second chapter elaborates how conventions of literature assist the reader to form his meaning. The third chapter reveals that the meaning of the text, like "nothing," is hard to be fixed on a singular one. But, the substitution of meanings still takes place in the domain of literary tradition. Therefore, the reader as well as the writer has difficulties finding his own voice; he is not a kind of "creator" as Roland Barthes assumes.