Literary Theory Reader-Response Criticism

Subjective vs. 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. Reader-Response criticism offers a subjective, or egocentric, reading of a text. Egocentrism refers to anything that regards the self of the individual as the center of all things.

What is Reader-Response? RR critics believe that a reader’s interaction with the text gives the text its meaning. The text cannot exist without the reader. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a noise? If a text sits on a shelf in a bookstore and no one is around to read it, does the text have meaning?

What is Reader-Response? RR criticism is NOT a free-for-all school of thought where anything goes. RR criticism is still a disciplined theory deserving of a careful reading of the text. RR critics are focused on finding meaning in the act of reading itself and examining the ways individual readers or communities of readers experience texts. The reader joins with the author to “help the text mean.”

What is Reader-Response? A successful reader-response critic does not just respond to a text—anyone can do that—but analyzes his or her response, or the responses of others. Our life experiences and the communities we belong to greatly influence our reading of a text Because each reader will interact with the text differently, the text may have more than one valid interpretation.

RR theorists share two beliefs: 1.The role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature (unlike New Critics who believe that the meaning of a text is contained in the text alone). 2.Readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to them by an objective literary text. Instead, readers actively make the meaning they find in literature.

Let’s Practice Reader-Response… Look at the article about bedbugs distributed in class and then analyze how the text’s meaning changes based on the purpose for which we read the text What does the text mean if we are a prospective home buyer or traveler? What does the text mean if we are a prospective entomologist (scientist who studies insects)?

Transactional Reader Response Analyzes the transaction between reader and text Both the reader and the text are necessary in the production of meaning As we read, the text acts as a stimulus to which we respond Feelings, associations, and memories all influence the way we make sense of a text as we read it

Efferent vs. Aesthetic Efferent Mode: focus on the information contained in the text as if it were a storehouse full of facts and ideas. Aesthetic Mode: focus on the personal relationship that the reader experiences with the text with attention to the emotional subtleties of the text’s language. See “Death of a Salesman” example on pages

Determinate vs. Indeterminate Determinate meaning refers to what might be called facts of the text: certain events in the plot or physical descriptions clearly provided by words on the page Indeterminate meaning refers to “gaps” in the text: actions not clearly explained or that seem to have multiple explanations. This allows the reader to create his own interpretation. Regardless of whether or not the meaning is determinate or indeterminate, you MUST give textual support for your interpretation to be valid.

Affective Stylistics A text comes into being as it is read rather than acts as an object that exists in space. The text is examined closely in order to understand how (stylistics) the text affects (affective) the reader during the reading process. The text does not have a fixed meaning independent of readers Affective Stylistics is the “slow motion” analysis of how the text structures the reader’s response

Affective Stylistics What does this sentence do to the reader? How does the reader of this sentence make meaning? What difficulties are involved in reading the text? What process is involved in making sense of the text? Critics using affective stylistics use thematic evidence to describe the experience of the reader (see Heart of Darkness example on page 177).

Questions for Analysis How does the interaction of text and reader create meaning? How does the analysis of what a text does to the reader differ from what the text “says” or “means”? How is a particular kind of reading experience an important theme in the text? Basically, can you show that what happens in the narrative mirrors the reader’s situation decoding it?

Questions for Analysis Using biographical data, what seems to be the author’s identity theme? How is that theme expressed in his work? What does the criticism published about a text suggest about the critics who interpreted the text and/or their reading experience? How do their psychological or ideological projections give the text meaning?