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Audiences and Reception

To what extent is the meaning of a text a function of the reading process? I stare at a barren white canvas that hangs in a museum of modern art with a set price at 80,000. Similar to Robert Rauschenbergs White Paintings produced in 1951 consisting of four white panels, these paintings are works of abstract expressionism. Many people are at a loss of words when they view paintings such as these. I ask myself, is this even a painting or more of a philosophical object? What ideas transcend the painting after viewing? Rauschenberg intended that the audience experience these pieces as art at its purest form. He implied that the reader would interpret it as such. Interpretation is an important puzzle piece to the literary process if not one of the laying groundwork pieces. Wolfgang Iser stated that meanings are more than just what the author intends it to be the text only takes on life when it is realized, and furthermore the realization is by no means independent of the individual disposition of the reader...The convergence of text and reader brings the literary work into existence, and this convergence can never be precisely pinpointed, but must always remain virtual, as it is not to be identified either with the reality of the text or with the individual disposition of the reader (274). Meaning production is this imbalanced turbulent relationship continually changing from reader to reader and from text to text. Therefore, all texts are inherently stable on an individual basis. The first perceived interpretation of a text functions as the base observation during the reading process but dissolves as a whole in influencing the constructed meaning after the reading process ceases. The reading process is significantly impacted by the meaning production of a text.
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Due to the fact that all texts are not stable we have to take caution in how an interpretation of a text is produced, and then see how it functions towards the reading process. Included within the body of this argument, we will firstly discern what includes a text, what factors influence the meaning derived out of a text, and ultimately how this affects the reading process. A text is any package of symbols that convey a meaning. Texts come in many forms such as print texts, images, products, advertisements, and magazines just to name a few. They are not limited to only physical projections; they can also be events and time periods such as the 70s, the Cold War, or even the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Any item or set of items that convey a specific meaning can be viewed at as a text. Any sets of symbols that are conveyed beyond the set of items are included within the text as well. For example, after the attacks of 9/11 symbols such as Al Qaeda, terrorism, and the United States would be included in this text. Another instance is that of the yin and yang symbol which can be perceived as peace, harmony, and balance. To others the yin and yang symbol can be purely an art piece of shapes and dots, a figurative visual image. This brings me to how the meaning of a text is moulded during the reading process. The meaning that ultimately is the result of the text varies from person to person. The variation though lies between the reading process and the individuals personal experiences. During the reading process the textual form and the competence of the reader negotiate each other forming the development of the meaning. A text not only involves interactions from the reader, but a collaborative back-and-forth process between the writer and the reader that gives breath and depth to the reading process. Beyond the text and meaning, another factor influences the meaning of text during the reading process the
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audience. Audiences can be categorised into two groups of readers according to Reception theory: the implied reader and the actual reader. Iser states, This term *implied reader+ incorporates both the restructuring of the potential meaning by the text, and the readers actualization of this potential through the reading process. It refers to the active nature of this process (22). The actual reader will always interpret a text in a different way, they are defined as the reader who receives certain mental images in the process of reading; however, the images will inevitably be coloured by the readers existing stock of experience (24). Are implied readers more preferred? Are actual readers considered higher on an intellectual level than implied readers? What makes a reader successful during the reading process? These are all questions that highly vary according to Reception theory. A reader is influenced by many factors. Factors such as: personal life experiences, beliefs, religion, and understanding of the world. These all have a profound effect on the social behavior of that reader which in turn influences the text in the reading process. When discerning the meaning of a text this factor can greatly influence the end construction. Cultural background of the reader and the social realm where reading process takes place should be taken into consideration as well. In this way texts are limited to the actual readers experiences. Hermeneutics describes this, since it is a process directed toward the determination of meaning; it postulates a transcendental function of understanding, no matter how complex (de Man, 9). Therefore, the notion of hermeneutics functions as a key element in Reception Theory since interpretations by the reader are now a part of the literary process. The reading process is deeply affected by cultural customs and values and the personal and biographical context of the reader has to be understood.

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Audiences and Reception

The human species has an inherent system of ideologies and stereotyping attached to many groups among all levels of observed social hierarchy. Whether it be gender, race, or socioeconomic levels of the pyramid there are ideologically loaded conditions attached to these readings of the groups and how certain groups read different texts. In one such cross-cultural study organised by Tamar Liebes and Elihu Katzs of the show Dallas they observed two different groups of culture, Israeli Moroccans and Americans. They observed that there was a continual mediation between the groups values and the values presented within the program that would lead the group to make parallels between the show and real life situations. Liebes and Katzs observations of the groups discussion illustrated vividly how community members negotiate meanings by confronting the text with their own tradition and their own experience (289). Included in the group observations, differences were seen between the females and males. Females focused more on certain characters than did the males. Not only do certain racial and ethnic groups view texts inversely but genders view things just as differently. This is just one instance of how cultural interpretation affects the reading process. Among ethnicity and gender, socioeconomic status, age, and surrounding environment are great factors that affect the meaning production produced during the reading process. Geographic location affects how one reads, but in the virtual realm that has quickly come to dominate society, how is the reading process now affected? In this modern day race to technologically advance, we are living in a global information society. This newfound and drastic change that has occurred in the past decade has massively affected how audiences are reading texts. There are no specific targeted audiences in the virtual world. Texts are now categorised in such a manner where they can be sought out. People, culture, and the way that they read have evolved to cater to the way
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the cyber net functions. Out in cyber space more than ever there are opinion leaders that influence an audiences decision and reading of a text. Through social networking sites and blogging, the readers also have the choice to interact with the writer by commenting, sharing, and retweeting. We now can observe the active participation between audience and author, as well as the audience between each other. This phenomenon has allowed people to influence other peoples symbolic interpretations without ever even meeting in real life. The power of the digital age should not be underestimated but analysed further in regards to the author-reader relationship. This virtual world of reading, though major will not erase the two other realms where reading takes place. The reading process continues to live in the academic/work and leisure space. The social realm in where reading takes place is a great factor in the reading process. In the academic realm a good reader whom is valued constructs the text perceived, and contemplates this idea or set of symbols in relationship to other texts that they might have encountered in the past. In other words, past texts have influence on the readers present and future texts. A good reader also realizes that the answer to such questions and others about the nature of the text is open minded and takes in others perspectives and views of other readers. To ultimately interpret the text at its most deep level, the option or choice of being influenced by another readers reading must be considered. A students lived experience of reading will continually affect their current reading processes. John F. Szwed stated in his article, The Ethnography of Literacy, in theory, at least, there is a form of reading specific to every room in the house (Mann, 295). In short, Szwed wants to emphasize that in every room of a house there is a specific kind of reading that occurs. When there is an expected outcome such as an assignment it puts pressure on the meaning that is extracted out of the text. In a study done by Mann, one of the readers
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that she interviews felt once she defined a piece of reading as work, she lost complete ownership of it. The reader did not want to be absorbed into the article, but that is what she feels is required of her. When engaging in reading for academic purposes, students are no longer engaging in a private activity undertaken for its own sake, but in an activity whose evaluated outcome will tell them something about their own worth in the eyes of others; therefore taking the pleasure out of this activity (Mann, 2007, 297). Reading is seen as a high culture activity when immersed in a literary world. One whom reads a great deal is seen as an intellectual deeming more respect in many areas of life. Even reading of art, performance, or an event of critical analysis is seen as a highly intellectual process. The reading process can be seen as an element that plays into societal roles and reputations. We assume that a reader is an individual who makes intertextual connections and asks certain kinds of questions of a text, who reads at a specific intellectual distance from the text, who debates about more than the intended texts meaning and instead analyses what is absent, missing, and the overall nature. Reading requires intent, focus, and concentration with an analytical standpoint. Are you only a reader when you are conscious of your reading? Is the conception of what a reader is and what a reader is not, a shared universal meaning? As mentioned earlier, cultural and social influences play significant roles in the interpretation of any given text. In the realm of academics, students that perform exceptionally well participate in critical analysis and though-provoking questioning. Reading can be seen as a site of potentially contradictory messages concerning the nature of reading and learning. It becomes of potentially agitated quality when it is undertaken within the particular context of education, because of the view as academic
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reading seen as work. Dependent on the readers conception of the reading process as attaining a better understanding or just memorising will indirectly correlate to how much the actual meaning is conveyed. Reception theory is consequently flourishing in support of this argument. If a text is seen as intrinsically meaningful and enjoyable and interpreted in a way that the reader is accustomed to, the reading process is not work. Reading for pleasure was seen as a relaxing and enjoyable activity, which could be done in order to provide relief from daily life or required tasks. Thus reading, as a process, is not problematic. However, as an activity it is enjoyable in variable degrees. Students give meaning both to the activity of reading and to its academic context in different ways. The reading situation is redefined during the reading of a text, and this redefinition seems to lead to adaptation in how students approach the reading process. Reading has to be understood within both its personal, and its socio-cultural and political context. On the opposite spectrum the reading process is also seen as leisurely instead of work. Some read to engage in escapism. A place where there are no boundaries or limits. A place where reading is pleasurable and defined through the reader and what the reader constructs from the text. Pleasure can also be defined through the reader by the actual process. Curiosity and finding pleasure within the reading process are key values the reader may give to the context and their perceived interpretation of the context. A reading has to be understood and not just a straightforward decoding of words, but a communicative act which dangles on the reader formulating certain basic presumptions about the intention of the writer to convey a message. With pleasure the text disrupts and challenges meaning, classification, the sign and the idea of the author, here we encounter the role of the actual

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reader once again. A textual experience teamed with pleasure produces a different kind of symbolic interpretation than that which is drawn from reading done for academic purposes. Robert C. Holub suggests that Reception Theory is a creative process that occurs in the act of reading. He states, The literary work is neither completely text nor completely the subjectivity of the reader, but a combination or merger of the two. In support of Holub, Hans Robert Jauss states the following: ...the relationship of work to work must now be brought into this interaction between work and mankind, and the historical coherence of works among themselves must be seen in the interrelations of production and reception. Put another way: literature and art only obtain a history that has the character of a process when the succession of works is mediated not only through the producing subject but also through the consuming subjectthrough the interaction of author and public. This dynamic interaction and negotiation between the reader and text continues to be a process, which cannot be pinpointed down as a specific course with identifiable stops and routes. The meaning that is produced through the text will foreshadow and presuppose the reader in a certain mind-set that will either read the text negatively, positively, or leave them to be confused and dismiss it altogether. The set of white paintings can be seen as the ultimate example of how a meaning of a text functions within the reading process. Viewing these white paintings in an art gallery and socially pleasurable experience would construct a meaning much different than if they were viewed as a part of a required art appreciation course. The reading process and all its participants (author, audience, and text) produce infinite and varied interpretations; without these interpretations, the reading process would be meaningless.
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References

De Man, P. Introduction from Toward an Aesthetic of Reception. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982). Katz, E. & Liebes, T. The export of meaning. In: Brooker, W. & Jermyn, D. The Audience Studies Reader. pp. 287-304. Iser, W. The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974. Mann, S. J. The students experience of reading. Higher Education 39: 297317, 2000. 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

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