Wolfgang Iser
Wolfgang Iser, born on July 22, 1926, in Marienberg, Germany, was a prominent literary theorist and a key figure in the development of reception theory. After serving in World War II and pursuing higher education in English, German, and philosophy at various German universities, he earned his Ph.D. from Heidelberg in 1950. Iser began his academic career in 1952 at the University of Glasgow and later held positions at several universities, ultimately becoming a professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Konstanz, which he helped establish.
Iser, alongside his colleague Hans Robert Jauss, developed reception theory, emphasizing the interaction between text and reader in the construction of literary meaning. His influential works include "The Implied Reader" and "The Act of Reading," where he posits that literary meaning arises from a collaboration between the author and an "implied reader." He argues that fiction shapes our understanding of reality rather than merely reflecting it, exploring the role of fiction in human experience in his work "The Fictive and the Imaginary." Acknowledged for his contributions to literary theory, Iser was elected to prestigious academic associations, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His work continues to inspire discussions on the nature of reading and the significance of literature in shaping human perception.
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Wolfgang Iser
Nonfiction Writer
- Born: July 22, 1926
- Birthplace: Marienberg, Germany
- Died: January 24, 2007
- Place of death: Germany
Biography
Wolfgang Iser was born in Marienberg, Germany, on July 22, 1926, the son of businessman Paul Iser and the former Else Steinbach. Entering elementary school in 1933, he completed his secondary education in 1944 and was drafted into the German army. He was subsequently captured and released from a prisoner of war camp in 1945.
After World War II, Iser studied English, German, and philosophy at the Universities of Leipzig, Tübingen, and Heidelberg, respectively, attaining his Ph.D. at Heidelberg in 1950. On May 24, 1952, he married Lore Reichert, a translator, who has since assisted him in his academic work.
He began teaching German at the University of Glasgow in Scotland in 1952, returning to Germany in 1955 to become an assistant professor at the University of Heidelberg. From 1960 to 1963, he was a professor at the University of Würzburg and from 1963 to 1967 was a professor at the University of Cologne. Beginning in 1967, he gained eminence as a professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Konstanz, an institution which he helped establish. There, with his colleague Hans Robert Jauss, Iser developed reception theory, which posits literary meaning as a transaction between text and reader.
Iser set forth his theory in such works as Der implizite Leser: Kommunicationsformen des englischen Romans von Bunyan bis Beckett (1972; The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett) and Der Akt des Lesens: Theorie ästhetischer Wirkung (1976; The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response, 1978). His version of reader-response criticism, unlike that of Norman N. Holland, does not concern itself with investigating empirically the reactions of particular readers to literary texts. For Iser, a given text does not depend utterly upon any particular reader for its meaning but “implies” an ideal reader. Literary meaning inheres in a collaboration between author and reader. Iser draws upon the speech-act theory of J. L. Austin in regarding the author’s words as providing instructions to the reader, who acts to fill in the gaps and blanks inevitably encountered in any serious literary text.
In 1978, Iser accepted a visiting professorship at the University of California, Irvine, subsequently becoming a permanent member of its faculty while retaining his position at Konstanz. Long interested in fiction, particularly the eighteenth century English novel, Iser turned his attention specifically to the relation of fiction to reality. Fiction, he argues, does not mirror reality but organizes, or reorganizes, our attitudes toward it. This aspect of his thought somewhat resembles that of the first major English literary critic, Sir Philip Sidney, who in his Defence of Poesie (1595) insisted that literature presents the reader not with what is but with “what may be and should be.”
In Das Fiktive und das Imaginäre (1991; The Fictive and the Imaginary: Charting Literary Anthropology, 1993), Iser further probed the significance of the pervasive human fondness for fictionalizing. This emphasis on human nature itself has led him into the field of literary anthropology.
Iser’s work in the realm of reception theory stands as his most significant contribution to literary theory. The academic world has recognized his achievements by naming him to such associations as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Heidelberg Academy of Arts and Sciences.