Interpretation in einer buchlosen Gesellschaft: Einleitung zu den Vorträgen der Tagung über philologische Erkenntnis von Peter Szondi

This study was written for lectures at a Szondi conference in 2016, and is based on an evaluation of the Hungarian and contemporary European afterlife of Peter Szondi’s work, as well as a reconsideration of his literary hermeneutics and approach to philology in view of the contemporary horizon of post-hermeneutics. The study pays special attention to questions that still concern critics today, including the relationship between interpretation and philology, the contemporary debate surrounding the referentiality of literary texts, and the principles of reading poetry. Following up on the lectures of the conference, the second part of the study identifies two fields in Szondi’s work that currently enjoy priority: one is Szondi’s link to the post-war generation of Jewish intellectuals, while the other is the possibility of reinterpreting his theory of drama.