Functional aesthetics of literary theory and the conflict of interpretations

Literature is a rich but also dense and very complex domain, because language itself which sustains it is ambiguous and more misleading than we can imagine. Because of this, it is generally assumed that the more you grow in your capacity to understand theory, the more you will be able to think broadly and deeply about human experience and the world of ideas, to appreciate this density and shades of meaning available in literary works. But there are so many theories which themselves always disagree with one another on what should be considered a valid interpretation. This leads to an additional problem. How does this conflict of interpretations in literary theory help in creating meaning? The aim of this essay is to analyse the functional aesthetics of literary theory and their conflicts in interpretation and see how meaning is created through this competition of ideas. Key words: Literary theory, functional aesthetics, interpretation, evaluation, meaning. La litterature est un domaine riche, mais aussi dense et complexe parce qu’elle utilise la langue qui ellememe est ambigue, et donc egalement source d’incomprehension. A cause de cette complexite et de cette ambiguite, les critiques ont souvent soutenu que plus vous vous impregnez des connaissances theoriques, plus vous avez des qualites necessaires pour produire de pertinentes interpretations des textes litteraires. Mais la grande question est le desaccord entre les multiples theories elles-memes qui ne s’entendent pas souvent sur ce qui devait constituer une interpretation acceptable et donc aussi une meilleure comprehension. Cette situation place le critique dans un cercle vicieux, car les theories sont sensees l’aider a avoir la meilleure comprehension du texte litteraire. Notre etude a pour objet, d’analyser les principes de la theorie litteraire et le conflit d’interpretations pour voir comment cette situation permet la creation du sens litteraire. Mots cles: Theorie litteraire, principes de la theorie, interpretation, evaluation, sens.