Self-study
P1
Reader-response theory, a type of literary theory that arose in reaction to formalist literary criticism, has endeavored to shift the emphasis in the interpretation of literature from the text itself to the contributions of readers to the meaning of a text. ███
Reader-response theory ·
Emphasizes what readers bring to meaning of a literary work
Proponents of reader-response theory ·
Text alone doesn't have meaning
It gets meaning from what readers bring to the text (assumptions, ways of reading). This makes multiple interpretations of a text likely.
Formalists ·
Focus on the text alone
Reader-response theory leads to fragmented views of a text.
Author's perspective ·
Formalists' view is too narrow
P2
███ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ █████████ █████████ ███████████ █████ ███████████████ ██████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ █████████████ █████ ████ █████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ █ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ █████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ███
Formalists' argument ·
Formalism is objective
Reader-response theory has no standards and leads to multiple meanings of a text. Authors in fact intend one meaning and critics should try to find it.
Author's critique ·
Literary works can have multiple meanings
Meanings are created by interaction between texts and readers.
P3
███████████ ███ ██████ ███████████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ███████████████ ██ █ ████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███████████████ ██████████ █████ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ████████████ ███████████████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ███████████████ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████ ████████████ ███
Benefit of reader-response theory ·
Emphasizing readers can uncover new meanings of a work
We've always had multiple interpretations of important works.
Concession / Benefit ·
Can lead to unfair interpretations, but also legitimate new interpretations
Passage Style
Critique or debate
15.
Which one of the following ███████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████████ ███████
a
a translator who ██████████ █ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████
Word for word translations don’t give any room for individual interpretations, so this does not show the principles of reader-response theory. This is closer to formalism, which
b
a music critic ███ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ██ █████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████
The reader-response theory is about what readers bring to the meaning of a text; this example about playing music on period-specific instruments has nothing to do with the principles of reader-response theory.
c
a reviewer who █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █ ████████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████████████
Reader-response theory is about readers’ interpretations, not about the author’s personal concerns.
d
a folk artist ███ ████ ████████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ███ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ████████
Reader-response theory is about the meaning that comes from
e
a director who ████ █ ████ ██ ███████████ ██ ██████████████████ █████ ██ ████ █ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████
This example is about how one person’s interpretation (the director) can bring a new understanding of a work (the Shakespeare play), even long after the work was written. This reflects the