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
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.
Concession / Benefit ·Can lead to unfair interpretations, but also legitimate new interpretations
Passage Style
Critique or debate
16.
With which one of the █████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████
Question Type
Author’s perspective
Implied
This is an Inference question about the author’s perspective. Remember that the author thinks that literary works can have multiple meanings, and the author opposes formalism.
a
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.
b
A purpose of █ ████████ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████████ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ █ █████
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.
c
A literary theory ██████ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██████
Anti-supported. The author claims that the formalist theory is too limited because of this focus on objective interpretations.
d
The purpose of █ ████████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ █████
Anti-supported. This is an aspect of formalism, which the author opposes.
e
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.
Difficulty
92% of people who answer get this correct
This is a slightly challenging question.
It is similar in difficulty to other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%128
138
75%148
Analysis
Author’s perspective
Implied
Art
Critique or debate
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
3%
158
b
92%
164
c
1%
152
d
2%
153
e
2%
156
Question history
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