Indeterminacy (literature)

Indeterminacy in literature can be simply defined as when components of a text require the reader to make their own decisions about the text’s meaning. (Baldick 2008) This can occur if the text’s ending does not provide full closure and there are still questions to be answered, or when "the language is such that the author’s original intention is not known". Baldick further describes the concept as "a principle of uncertainty invoked to deny the existence of any final or determinate meaning that could bring to an end the play of meaning between the elements of a text". Therefore, indeterminacy is the belief that it is not possible to decide entirely what a word means when used in a certain circumstance, so the meaning of the whole text must remain open to interpretation.