Abstract:

“Returning to the work itself” is the shared theoretical pursuit of phenomenological literary criticism in the sense of Husserl and Ingarden. Under the influence of Husserl’s theory of intentionality and Ingarden’s theory of literary works, phenomenological literary criticism has developed three theoretical approaches. The first is Mikel Dufrenne’s “witnessing” criticism, which believes that the meaning of a work is determined by its perceptual form, and criticism is unveiling rather than creating the meaning of the work. The second is Georges Poulet’s “recognition” criticism, which holds that criticism is the recognition of the author’s “cogito” in the work. The third is Wolfgang Iser’s “appeal” criticism, which claims that the critic’s perception of literary texts is not a passive recording of the work but presents a process in which affections are aroused, and the imagination is activated. In the process of appealing, the reader participates in meaning creation surrounding the work, albeit constrained by structural factors such as the literary text itself.

Key words: phenomenology, literary criticism, witnessing, recognition, appeal