Avant-propos

Abstract

Intersecting literary theory and close readings, this volume aims to chart some of the spaces opened up by the emergence of the reader as a central figure. Since Roland Barthes’s provocative proclamation of the “death of the author” in the late 1960s, the reader and the act of reading have become cornerstones of literary theory. Yet far from putting an end to the myth of the Author, this “birth of the reader” has instead enabled a fertile reconfiguration of the writer’s figure—who now increasingly invites readers into the very heart of fictional worlds. Reader, author, and critic—roles that are sometimes indistinguishable—have thus, for over half a century, engaged in a compelling dialogue, reflected in the various contributions gathered in this volume.