READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 Emerged in 1930

 Reader is not passive but active and his role cannot be ignored.

 Reader response stresses the importance of the reader's role in interpreting

texts. Rejecting the idea that there is a single, fixed meaning inherent in every
literary work, this theory holds that the individual creates his or her own meaning
through a "transaction" with the text based on personal associations.

 Literature is a performative art and each reading is a performance. Literature

exists only when it is read; meaning is an event. The literary text possesses no
fixed and final meaning. Literary meaning is created by the interaction of the
reader and the text. According Louise Rosenblatt a poem is “what the reader
lives through under the guidance of the text.” - Reader-response criticism argues
that a text has no meaning before a reader experiences—reads—it.

 “…the ultimate goal of reader-response criticism is to increase our understanding

of the reading process by investigating the activities in which readers engage and
the effects of those activities on their interpretations.” (Tyson, 188)

 Reader response theorists believe that readers actively make meanings as they
read and that the reader’s role is important when understanding literature. They
also believe that a written text is an event that only occurs within the reader.

 For Rosenblatt and Richards the idea of a "correct" reading--though difficult to

attain--was always the goal of the "educated" reader (armed, of course, with
appropriate aesthetic apparatus).

 For Stanley Fish, the reader's ability to understand a text is also subject a

reader's particular "interpretive community." To simplify, a reader brings certain
assumptions to a text based on the interpretive strategies he/she has learned in
a particular interpretive community.

 Wolfgang Iser argued that the reading process is always subjective - reading is a

dialectical process between the reader and text.

 For Hans-Robert Jauss, a reader's aesthetic experience is always bound by time

and historical determinants.

 Reader-response criticism considers readers' reactions to literature as vital to

interpreting the meaning of the text. However, reader-response criticism can take
a number of different approaches. A critic deploying reader-response theory can
use a psychoanalytic lens, a feminist lens, or even a structuralist lens. What
these different lenses have in common when using a reader-response approach
 is they maintain "...that what a text is cannot be separated from what it does"
(Tyson 154).

 Tyson explains that "...reader-response theorists share two beliefs: 1) that the
role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature and 2)
that readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to them by an
objective literary text; rather they actively make the meaning they find in
literature" (154).

 Reader-response suggests that the role of the reader is essential to the meaning
of a text, for only in the reading experience does the literary work come alive.
Thus, the purpose of a reading response is examining, explaining, and defending
your personal reaction to a text.

 Your critical reading of a text asks you to explore: why you like or dislike the text;
explain whether you agree or disagree with the author; identify the text’s
purpose; and critique the text.

 There is no right or wrong answer to a reading response. Nonetheless, it is

important that you demonstrate an understanding of the reading and clearly
explain and support your reactions. 

 Reader-response criticism does not mean that all reader criticism is correct.
Readers actively make meaning out of the text depending on who the reader is.
Two readers could read the same book and get two distinct meanings out of the
text depending on their social backgrounds, life experiences, and intellectual
communities.

 At its simplest, reading is “an activity that is guided by the text; this must be
processed by the reader who is then, in turn, affected by what he has processed”
(Iser 63). The text is the compass and map, the reader is the explorer. However,
the explorer cannot disregard those unexpected boulders in the path which he or
she encounters along the journey that are not written on the map. Likewise, the
woman reader does not come to the text without outside influences. She comes
with her experiences as a woman—a professional woman, a divorcée, a single
mother. Her reading, then, is influenced by her experiences.

 As Louise Rosenblatt states: a reader’s “tendency toward identification [with

characters or events] will certainly be guided by our preoccupations at the time
we read. Our problems and needs may lead us to focus on those characters and
situations through which we may achieve the satisfactions, the balanced vision,
or perhaps merely the unequivocal motives unattained in our own lives” (38).

MAJOR FIGURES

 I.A Richards – The Principles of Literary Crticism, How to Read a Page

 Louise Rosenblatt – Literature as Exploration, The Reader, The Text, The Poem
 Stanley Fish – Is There a Text in this Class?, Surpised by Sin: The Reader in
“Paradise Lost”, Self-Consuming Artifcats: The Experience of the Seventeenth-
Century Reader
  Wolfgang Iser – The Implied Reader
 Hans-Robert Jauss – Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, Aesthetic Experience,
Literary Hermeneutics

KEY TERMS

 Subjective versus Objective

- When we refer to something as “subjective” we mean that it pertains
to the individual (The reader). A subjective reading of a text is one in
which emphasis is placed on the attitudes, moods, and opinions of the
reader.
- When we refer to something as “objective” we mean that it pertains to
an object) the text) separate from the individual (the reader). An
objective reading of a text is one that is uninfluenced by emotions or
personal prejudices.
- Egocentrism – refers to anything that regards the self of the individual
as the center of all things.

 Horizons of expectations - a term developed by Hans Robert Jauss to explain

how a reader's "expectations" or frame of reference is based on the reader's past
experience of literature and what preconceived notions about literature the
reader possesses (i.e., a reader's aesthetic experience is bound by time and
historical determinants). Jauss also contended that for a work to be considered a
classic, it needed to exceed a reader's horizons of expectations.

 Meaning in a Text
1. Determinate – basically the facts in the text
2. Indeterminate – are gaps in the text which is filled by reader

 Implied reader - a term developed by Wolfgang Iser; the implied reader

[somewhat akin to an "ideal reader"] is "a hypothetical reader of a text. The
implied reader [according to Iser] "embodies all those predispositions necessary
for a literary work to exercise its effect -- predispositions laid down, not by an
empirical outside reality, but by the text itself. Consequently, the implied reader
as a concept has his roots firmly planted in the structure of the text; he is a
construct and in no way to be identified with any real reader" (Greig E.
Henderson and Christopher Brown - Glossary of Literary Theory).
- Finds out the determinate meaning of the text.

 Actual Reader – fills the gap in the text and find out the indeterminate meaning
of the text.

 Interpretive communities - a concept, articulated by Stanley Fish, that readers

within an "interpretive community" share reading strategies, values and
interpretive assumptions (Barbara McManus).

 Transactional analysis - a concept developed by Louise Rosenblatt asserting

that meaning is produced in a transaction of a reader with a text. As an
approach, then, the critic would consider "how the reader interprets the text as
well as how the text produces a response in her" (Dobie 132).
 - Analyzes the transaction between text and reader. Texts act as a stimulus
to our responses to what we are reading. Texts also act as a blueprint that
keeps us on track to what we are reading so we do not steer too far away
from the actual meaning with what we are interpreting.
1. Efferent reading: Just focusing on the information that we read in the
text. The reader only focuses on the facts and ideas.
2. Aesthetic reading: We focus on the emotional connections that we
make to the characters and story lines in the text, we begin to make
judgments and put ourselves in the place of the characters.
3. Determinate meaning: Facts that are given to the reader such as:
physical character descriptions, dates, names, and certain events in
the plot.
4. Indeterminate meaning: These are spaces in the text that are up for
interpretation. Certain events are actions can have many different
meanings, these gaps allows the reader to be creative and allow them
to create their own interpretation.

 Affective Stylistics - Affective stylistics is the “slow-motion, phrase by phrase

analysis of how the text structures the reader’s response”(175). It is used to
understand how the text, which does not have a fixed meaning, affects the
reader in the process of reading. Stanley Fish thinks it is important to ask the
question “What does the sentence do to the reader?”in order to determine what
the text does. Affective stylistic critics show how the reader’s experience is
mirrored in descriptions and experiences in the text.

 Subjective Reader-response - David Bleich believes that when we interpret the

meaning of the text “we are interpreting the meaning of the conceptual
experience we created in response to the text” (178).
1. Real Objects: Physical objects such as the printed pages of a text.
2. Symbolic objects: The experience created when someone reads
those printed pages, much like language itself.
3. Symbolization: The feelings, associations, and memories that
occur as we read a text.
4. Resymbolization: Interpreting the meaning of the conceptual
experience we created in response to the text, as well as our
evaluation of the text’s quality.

 Psychological Reader-response - Psychological reader-response theory

focuses not on what readers’ interpretations say about the text, but on what
those interpretations say about themselves. Norman Holland believes that we
use the same psychological responses when reacting to events in our everyday
lives and when reacting to literary texts. Therefore, the goal of interpretation is to
fulfil our psychological needs and desires and to restore our psychological
equilibrium. This interpretive process consists of three stages: (1) defence mode,
in which psychological defences are raised, (2) fantasy mode, in which we
interpret the text in a way to tranquilize those defences, and (3) transformation
mode, in which we focus on an intellectual interpretation to avoid an emotional
response.
1. Interpretation: The way a reader conceptualizes a text to restore
psychological equilibrium.
 2. Identity theme: The patters of our psychological conflicts and
coping strategies. Through this we unconsciously recreate the text
for a world that exists more realistically to us.
3. Defence Mode: Our unconscious defences are raised by a certain
character or event in a text.
4. Fantasy Mode: We start to interpret the text in a way the gives us a
psychological equilibrium, such as, we start to tell ourselves this
isn’t a real story.
5. Transformation Mode: The readers decide to focus on a more
intellectual interpretation of the text in order to avoid the sometimes
painful emotional responses.

 Social Reader-response - Social reader-response theorists, such as Stanley

Fish, argue that all individual subjective responses are products of the
interpretive community to which we belong. These interpretive communities are
dynamic and determine how we will read the text in the first place. With social
reader-response theory, “each interpretation will simply find whatever its
interpretive strategies put there”(186).

WRITING READER-RESPONSE: FORMAT

In the beginning paragraph of your reader-response essay, be sure to mention the

following:
 Title of the work to which you are responding;
 The author; and
 The main thesis of the text.

Principle, for example:

1. Is the text racist?
2. Does the text unreasonably put down things, such as religion, or groups of
people, such as women or adolescents, conservatives or democrats, etc?
3. Does the text include factual errors or outright lies? It is too dark and despairing?
Is it falsely positive?

Form, for example:

1. Is the text poorly written?
2. Does it contain too much verbal “fat”?
3. Is it too emotional or too childish?
4. Does it have too many facts and figures?
5. Are there typos or other errors in the text?
6. Do the ideas wander around without making a point?

For the conclusion, you might want to discuss:

1. Your overall reaction to the text;
2. Whether you would read something else like this in the future;
3. Whether you would read something else by this author; and
4. If would you recommend read this text to someone else and why.
TYPICAL QUESTIONS

1. How does the interaction of text and reader create meaning?

2. What does a phrase-by-phrase analysis of a short literary text, or a key portion of
a longer text tell us about the reading experience pre-structured by (built into)
that text?
3. Do the sounds/shapes of the words as they appear on the page or how they are
spoken by the reader enhance or change the meaning of the word/work?
4. How might we interpret a literary text to show that the reader's response is, or is
analogous to, the topic of the story?
5. What does the body of criticism published about a literary text suggest about the
critics who interpreted that text and/or about the reading experience produced by
that text? (Tyson 191)

RECEPTION THEORY
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 Reception theory is a version of reader-response literary theory that emphasizes

the reader’s reception of a literary text.

 It is the notion that audiences don’t just absorb everything they are told but are
actually involved, sometimes unconsciously, in making sense of any given
message as it relates to them in their own personal contexts.

 The ways people pick and choose what they interpret, how their background
affects their mentality and how messages are intended to be taken by media are
all very important points in this theory.

 Its focus is not in the literary piece but in the audience or readers on how they
react to the message of the piece or media.

 It answers, “‘how’ rather than ‘what’ something like a painting...’means…

 Originated from the work of Hans-Robert Jauss in the late 1960s, and the most
influential work was produced during the 1970s and early 1980s in Germany and
the US (Fortier 132), with some notable work done in other Western European
countries.

 Reception means the ability or inclination to receive or to be receptive but, in the

case of reception theory, reader/listener/viewer is not passive. He accepts it
because he is involved in the process where he is the one responsible in creating
meanings of the text. Therefore, it only explains that the intended meaning of the
producer is not inherent to the text but created through the relationship of text
and its audience most importantly.
 Reception theory is a version of reader response theory that emphasizes the
reader’s reception of a literary text.

 This approach to textual analysis focuses on the scope for negotiation and
opposition on the part of the audience/reader/viewer depending on the media
used either by written or audio visual. Interpretation becomes the focus that’s
why it leads to negotiation and opposition. This means that a text or any other
form of material, be it a book, movie or other creative work – is not simply
passively accepted by the audience, but that the reader/viewer/listener interprets
the meaning of a text based on their individual cultural background and life
experiences.

 As one of the proponents of this theory, Stuart Hall developed the

encoding/decoding model of communication.

 Wolfgang Iser as one of the founding fathers of Reception Theory developed

concepts such as:
1. Protention is to formulate and imagine how things will develop in the future
2. Retention is when viewers assess new information and reassesses

 HALL’S THEORY OF PREFFRERED READING

1. Dominant Reading
a. This is when the text is read in the way the producer intended the
text to be read.
b. The audience agrees with the messages and ideology that the
producer has placed behind the text.
c. The audience will view the text in the way the producer wanted
them to.
Example: A handbag that looks appealing to a female reader
encouraging her to want to go out and buy it.

2. Negotiated reading
a. The audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their
own input and understanding of the text.
b. They do not agree or disagree, they can however see a point being
made in relation to the reading while also making their own
opinions.
Example: A woman sees a handbag advertised and think it looks nice
but could not justify spending the amount of money it would cost.

3. Oppositional reading
a. The audience rejects the producers preferred reading and creates
their own reading of the text, usually the opposite of what the
producer intended.
b. The reader rejects the meaning completely as they do not agree
with the message that is being presented to the audience.
Example: An advertisement for a handbag is rejected completely as
the reader believes the advert is stereotyping woman and
categorizing them on their appearance.
  Sign and symbols
 Signs are what we use to create meaning and symbols are the
larger structure that are created to reflect and communicate
our ideas and interpretation of signs
 Texts
 Text is polysemic. A polysemic text means that a specific text can
be interpreted in a number of ways as it is viewed from reader
to reader.

______________________________________________________________________

LITERARY EXCURSION
The Story of an Hour
Kate Chopin

SUGGESTED VIDEO: FILM SHOWING

 ICSE CBSE Learning, The Story of an Hour || Kate Chopin || ISC Echoes || ISC
Short Stories || ICSE Lerning ||, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=as4dOREJ7pE
CHARACTERS

 Louise Mallard
A woman whose husband is reportedly killed in a train accident. When Louise hears the
news, she is secretly happy because she is now free. She is filled with a new lust for
life, and although she usually loved her husband, she cherishes her newfound
independence even more. She has a heart attack when her husband, alive after all,
comes home.

 Brently Mallard
Louise’s husband supposedly killed in a train accident. Although Louise remembers
Brently as a kind and loving man, merely being married to him also made him an
oppressive factor in her life. Brently arrives home unaware that there had been a train
accident.

 Josephine
Louise’s sister. Josephine informs Louise about Brently’s death.

 Richards
Brently’s friend. Richards learns about the train accident and Brently’s death at the
newspaper office, and he is there when Josephine tells the news to Louise.

PLOT
 Louise Mallard has heart trouble, so she must be informed carefully about her
husband’s death. Her sister, Josephine, tells her the news. Louise’s husband’s
friend, Richards, learned about a railroad disaster when he was in the newspaper
office and saw Louise’s husband, Brently, on the list of those killed. Louise begins
sobbing when Josephine tells her of Brently’s death and goes upstairs to be alone
in her room.

 Louise sits down and looks out an open window. She sees trees, smells
approaching rain, and hears a peddler yelling out what he’s selling. She hears
someone singing as well as the sounds of sparrows, and there are fluffy white
 clouds in the sky. She is young, with lines around her eyes. Still crying, she gazes
into the distance. She feels apprehensive and tries to suppress the building
emotions within her, but can’t. She begins repeating the word Free! to herself over
and over again. Her heart beats quickly, and she feels very warm.

 Louise knows she’ll cry again when she sees Brently’s corpse. His hands were
tender, and he always looked at her lovingly. But then she imagines the years
ahead, which belong only to her now, and spreads her arms out joyfully with
anticipation. She will be free, on her own without anyone to oppress her. She thinks
that all women and men oppress one another even if they do it out of kindness.
Louise knows that she often felt love for Brently but tells herself that none of that
matters anymore. She feels ecstatic with her newfound sense of independence.

 Josephine comes to her door, begging Louise to come out, warning her that she’ll
get sick if she doesn’t. Louise tells her to go away. She fantasizes about all the days
and years ahead and hopes that she lives a long life. Then she opens the door, and
she and Josephine start walking down the stairs, where Richards is waiting.

 The front door unexpectedly opens, and Brently comes in. He hadn’t been in the
train accident or even aware that one had happened. Josephine screams, and
Richards tries unsuccessfully to block Louise from seeing him. Doctors arrive and
pronounce that Louise died of a heart attack brought on by happiness.

THEME
 The Forbidden Joy of Independence
In “The Story of an Hour,” independence is a forbidden pleasure that can be imagined
only privately. When Louise hears from Josephine and Richards of Brently’s death, she
reacts with obvious grief, and although her reaction is perhaps more violent than other
women’s, it is an appropriate one. Alone, however, Louise begins to realize that she is
now an independent woman, a realization that enlivens and excites her. Even though
these are her private thoughts, she at first tries to squelch the joy she feels, to “beat it
back with her will.” Such resistance reveals how forbidden this pleasure really is. When
she finally does acknowledge the joy, she feels possessed by it and must abandon
herself to it as the word free escapes her lips. Louise’s life offers no refuge for this kind
of joy, and the rest of society will never accept it or understand it. Extreme
circumstances have given Louise a taste of this forbidden fruit, and her thoughts are, in
turn, extreme. She sees her life as being absolutely hers and her new independence as
the core of her being. Overwhelmed, Louise even turns to prayer, hoping for a long life
in which to enjoy this feeling. When Brently returns, he unwittingly yanks Louise’s
independence away from her, putting it once again out of her reach. The forbidden joy
disappears as quickly as it came, but the taste of it is enough to kill her.

 The Inherent Oppressiveness of Marriage

Chopin suggests that all marriages, even the kindest ones, are inherently oppressive.
Louise, who readily admits that her husband was kind and loving, nonetheless feels joy
when she believes that he has died. Her reaction doesn’t suggest any malice, and
Louise knows that she’ll cry at Brently’s funeral. However, despite the love between
husband and wife, Louise views Brently’s death as a release from oppression. She
never names a specific way in which Brently oppressed her, hinting instead that
marriage in general stifles both women and men. She even seems to suggest that she
oppressed Brently just as much as he oppressed her. Louise’s epiphany in which these
thoughts parade through her mind reveals the inherent oppressiveness of all marriages,
which by their nature rob people of their independence.
REFERENCE:
 Dr. Kristi Siegel, Introduction to Modern Literary Theory,
http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#reception

 Purdue University, Reader-Response Criticism (1960s-present),

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_t
heory_and_schools_of_criticism/reader_response_criticism.html

 Lumen, Introduction to Literature,

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/reader-response-
criticism/

 Sparknotes, The Story of an Hour, https://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-

story-of-an-hour/themes/