Cultural-Historical Psychology of Art: Intertextuality and Author-work-reader Relation

Abstract

The historical-cultural psychology of art, as developed by L.S. Vygotsky, proposes an explanatory method for the study of aesthetic experience. In order to expand the methodological investigation field of the psychology of art, we start from the interposition of the Vygotskian concept of aesthetic experience with the unit analysis method. Furthermore, the phenomenon of intertextuality and the historical-cultural dimensions are taken as structuring elements for the investigation and interpretation of empirical material. Based on the Vygotskian premise that aesthetic experience is connected to the production of new senses, the contributions of Antonio Candido are brought in, considering the established movement between author-work-public and incorporating the total, social, and ideological functions of literature. As a methodological contribution, we propose to investigate the paths taken by aesthetic perezhivanie, beyond those of the destruction of content through form. Finally, we regard the work of art as a living system, the author as a function, and the reader as a co-creator, thus actively involved in the process of aesthetic experience.