1. Reader Response Criticism
Literary Criticism
Reader Response Criticism

2. Historical Context
Louise Rosenblatt's influential 1938 work Literature As Exploration
reaction to the formalist theories of the New Critics, who promoted "close readings" of literature
Initially->RR=bad because it relied too much on personal interpretation
New Critics a practice which advocated rigid scholarly detachment in the study of texts and rejected all forms of personal interpretation by the reader. More about that later

3. Definition
A form of criticism that 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. Makes a text and opinion objective and unique
Because all readers bring their own emotions, concerns, life experiences, and knowledge to their reading, each interpretation is subjective and unique.

4. Key terms
Horizons of expectations-reader’s ‘expectations’ of literature
Implied reader-like target audience
Interpretive communities-reader’s within a certain community share values, reading strategies etc
Transactional analysis-how does reader interpret text and how text produces a response (think diction/imagery)
Horizons of expectations 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. For a work to be a classic, it needs to exceed the reader’s horizons of expectations
Implied reader: 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
Interpretive communities: that readers within an "interpretive community" share reading strategies, values and interpretive assumptions
Transactional analysis: 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"

5. Objections (weaknesses)
Too subjective
Fails to account for a text being able to expand a reader’s understanding

6. To sum up
“The Correct Reading” was traditionally the goal of literary criticism.
Reader response criticism is a reaction to this. How one interprets a text is subjective and is based on time, place, culture, etc.

7. Literary Criticism
Archetypal Criticism

8. Historical Context
Based on works of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell (and myth itself)
Popular in 1950s and ‘60s due to Canadian, Northrop Frye

9. Definition
Archetypal critics believe that literature is based on recurring images, characters, narrative designs and themes
Origins of western literature in Judeo-Christian scripture and Greco-Roman mythology

10. What’s an Archetype Arche “first” and typos “form”
An original model or pattern from which copies are made

11. Fundamental plot archetype
The Journey
protagonist moves from innocence to experience
Begins in familiar environment
Descent into danger
Battle “monsters” in underworld (task)
Return home (reunion, marriage)

12. Key Terms Anima Animus Collective Unconscious Persona Shadow
Anima - feminine aspect - the inner feminine part of the male personality or a man's image of a woman.
Animus - male aspect - an inner masculine part of the female personality or a woman's image of a man.
Collective Unconscious - "a set of primal memories common to the human race, existing below each person's conscious mind" (Jung)
Persona - the image we present to the world
Shadow - darker, sometimes hidden (deliberately or unconsciously), elements of a person's psyche

13. Common Archetypal Figures
The Child
The Hero
The Great Mother
The Wise old man
The Trickster or Fox
Think pair, share. What other archetypal figures do you se recurring in literature, film, tv etc? wicked stepmother, the fool (Forrest Gump, Rain Man) femme noire, femme blanche.

14. Frye vs Jung
Frye sees archetypes as recurring patterns in literature; in contrast, Jung views archetypes as primal, ancient images/experience that we have inherited.

15. Objections Limits personal interpretation
Only analyses one aspect of literature (archetypes)

16. In the fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel are loved by their father but resented by their step-mother, who insists on a journey into the woods with the intent of losing them. In the woods, the children meet evil in the guise of a witch who tries to kill them. But they outwit her, kill her, and return to their father. Their step-mother in some versions dies mysteriously at the same time as the witch. Familiar order is restored.

17. In groups of 3-4, write a modern version of this fairy tale
In groups of 3-4, write a modern version of this fairy tale. Make sure your modern tale does not alter the original theme or message. Note how you used the archetypes within this tale. Be prepared to present to the rest of the class.