Abstract

This book is the first of two volumes devoted to the implications of hermeneutics for literary study. Because many of the major texts required for both the definition of the term ‘hermeneutics’ and an understanding of its development remain untranslated, Palmer uses most of the present volume for exposition while reserving the task of applications in literary criticism for his second volume. The specific aim here is ‘… to lay the philosophical foundation for exploring the significance of hermeneutics for literary understanding’, to write ‘… a philosophical introduction to hermeneutics which can at the same time serve as the foundation for a second volume discussing hermeneutics in relation to literary theory’. And the thesis reads: ‘In German hermeneutics theory can be found the philosophical foundation for a radically more comprehensive understanding of the problems in literary interpretation’.