Krantz

Reader Response

        Be careful as you read Fish. While he is saying that words and statements in English have multiple manings, he is not sayng that texts can be interpreted any way one wants. Both words and sentences are limited by the structres of the English languarge. For example, "I want a dog" might mean "I desire a poodle or a retriever," or it might mean "I'd like a frankfurter," but it doesn't mean " I hate cats." Fish is arguing against opponents to this theory who claim that his method of reading leads to complete relativism. Every reader comes to a reading with knowledge that is common to other readers, so people can agree on a, perhaps large, but still limited number of meanings. One goal of this class is to furnish you with insights that open the ways in which you can interpret texts. Still you have to argue for your interpretations, and the further the interpretation strays from the common meanings of words or images, the more difficult to argue.

       Fish, like other critics including Derrida, assumes readers who are familiar with literary antecedents and traditions. The more classes you take as English majors, the more sophisticated you become as readers because you know more of what writers are responding to and against.