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Martin Heidegger´s fundamental ontology is of tangible influence on the question of interpretation. Finding the history of Being synonymous with the history of the forgetfulness of Being, Heidegger´s destruktion of the history of ontology has provided insights into the developments of the twentieth-century literary interpretation. With the publication of Being and Time, the metaphysical foundations of the New Criticism are rigorously questioned. A sense of situatedness of the act of interpretation is foregrounded. With Heidegger, interpretation is a going beyond traditional points of departure, be it the author,representation, or the reader. The work of art can be approached in terms of its revealing of truth. It becomes a thing in itself. This matter-of- factness of the work of art has given way to an absurd tone and a sense of an ending, responsible to a considerable extent for the appearance of deconstruction as a postmodern strategy of reading.

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Karam AbuSehly, PhD:Studied Literary Theory at Cairo University.

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