Reading Beyond the Code: Literature and Relevance Theory

This book is the first extensive exploration of the value for literary study of ‘relevance theory’, an approach to communication introduced by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson. The most original feature of relevance theory is its rejection of the ‘code’ model of communication in favour of an inferential model that stresses the importance of context and inference in the interpretation of communicative acts. This approach yields novel results when applied to literary communication. Against the prevailing view in literary theory, it insists on the importance of authors and intentions; it shows how literary works convey complex ‘arrays’ of implications; and it provides both an explanatory frame for literary communication and a wide range of effective tools for literary analysis. An unusual feature of the volume is its emphasis on the ways in which literary works trigger ‘non-propositional’ sensory and motor responses in the reader.