The Possible Reader - How Can He Be ‘Possible’?

Abstract

How can it be possible that the value of a critical instrument as a theoretical category is proved as valuable in practice? In reading cases, especially during the interpretation of fictional texts, this would be an attractive ideal, at least as a methodological premise. In this work, we represent some theses on the equivalence of the Possible Reader as a theoretical instrument, with the Empirical (real) Reader of fictional texts. We are focused on presenting a hybrid Eco (Umberto) - Fish (Stanley) Model (EFM), the relevant structure and its function, its validity in implementation. The Structuralist Model of Eco (Umberto) is seen in function of text constructing, while the Phenomenological Model of Fish (Stanley) is seen as an alternative to meaning issues, as a complementary entity with Eco’s model. What can be said, for now, is that not only in the ethical level, but also with concrete results, this method justifies itself. The meaning produced by the Possible Reader as a theoretical category appears almost in the same parameters with the meaning produced by a community of empirical readers. We should specify, at the end, that the model is in its experimental phase, as it will need more exhaustive theorizing in the future.