No, but I can see where he's coming from when he uses the term, even if it's not very exact... he makes an association between that whole postmodern "the author's intention doesn't matter, any supportable interpretation goes" thing, and "touchy-feely" notions of the "you can't say someone's opinion about a book is wrong, they have a right to see things from their own perspective" variety, and dismisses both because he thinks that no, an author's intent certainly does matter, and some interpretations or views of literary books are indeed wrong.

At least, that's how I read it, Tom, do correct me otherwise.


I agree with this...

but not with this. It's become a huge cliché that postmodernists think the author's intent doesn't matter, and perhaps they merely say that as some kind of boutade (is that word used in English?), but it turns a lot of people off from postmodernist literary theory, because they feel strongly that yes, the intent of the author does matter, of course it does. That doesn't mean one cannot interpret the text differently, but still.