Part 1. On the definition, scope, and significance of hermeneutics ; Introduction ; Hermeneuein and Hermeneia: the modern significance of their ancient usage ; Six modern definitions of Hermeneutics ; The contemporary battle over hermeneutics: Betti versus Gadamer ; The meaning and scope of hermeneutics -- Part 2. Four major theorists ; Two forerunners of Schleiermacher ; Schleiermacher's project of general hermeneutics ; Dilthey: hermeneutics as foundation of the Geisteswissenschaften ; Heidegger's contribution to hermeneutics in Being and Time ; Heidegger's later contribution to hermeneutical theory ; Gadamer's critique of modern aesthetic and historical consciousness ; Gadamer's dialectical hermeneutics -- Part 3. A hermeneutical manifesto to american literary interpretation ; Toward reopening the question: what is interpretation ; Thirty theses on interpretation.