TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2006)
-GRADE EIGHT-
PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION
SECTION A MINI-LECTURE
OK, you may see that this idea that meaning requires competency in reading, in fact, brings us back to the historically situated understandings of an author and his works, as we mentioned earlier in this lecture: to different conventions and ways of reading and writing and to the point that meaning requires a negotiation between cultural meanings across time, culture, class etc. As readers you have in fact acquired a good deal of competency already, but you should acquire more. The essential point of this lecture is that meaning in literature is a phenomenon that is not easily located, that meaning is historical, social and derived from the traditions of reading and thinking and understanding of the world that you are educated about. Thank you for your attention.