This volume contains an edited selection of the papers read at the International Colloquium on Interpretation of Narrative held at the University of Toronto, 24 to 27 March 1976 by the Graduate Programme in Comparative Literature. The papers in the first part all deal with the methodology of text-oriented criticism; the papers in the second brng to the discussion a fundamental agreement and acceptance of the hermeneutic method and reception theory. It is most fitting that these proceedings should end with an attempt to find the holistic identity of interpretation of narrative. The papers in the third part were prepared for the colloquium and were published in part afterwards in Critical Inquiry and each assisted in the inquiry.