PT116.S1.P3.Q16 > Analytics

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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.

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Author's perspective · Formalists' view is too narrow

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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.

Benefit of reader-response theory · Emphasizing readers can uncover new meanings of a work

We've always had multiple interpretations of important works.

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Concession / Benefit · Can lead to unfair interpretations, but also legitimate new interpretations

Passage Style

Critique or debate

16.

With which one of the █████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████

Any literary theory ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████ █████████████ ███████████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████████

Unsupported. While the author sees formalism as too narrow, the author does not say that all literary theories are limiting or that contradictions are inevitable. In fact, according to the author, a strength of the reader-response theory is that it can emphasize a wide range of interpretations.

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This is supported in P3. When a literary theory emphasizes the variations in readers’ interpretations, the author claims that we develop new understandings of literary works. The reader-response theory is a strong approach because it facilitates these new understandings.

92%

A literary theory ██████ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██████

Anti-supported. The author claims that the formalist theory is too limited because of this focus on objective interpretations.

The purpose of █ ████████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ █████

Anti-supported. This is an aspect of formalism, which the author opposes.

Since no literary ██████ ███ █ ████████ ██ ████████ █ ██████ ██████ █████ █████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███████████

Unsupported. The author does say that no literary theory has a monopoly on meaning, but the author does not recommend that using theories to interpret literature should be avoided. The author actually claims that the reader-response theory has benefits for interpreting literature.

PrepTest 116 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 16

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

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