Reading Response Critical Theory

Front 1

What does reader response criticism focus on?

Back 1

It focuses on readers' responses to literary texts.

Front 2

When did reader response theory begin to receive more attention?

Back 2

1970s. This is when reader response theory maintained the idea that what a text is cannot be separated from what it does.

Front 3

What two beliefs do reader response theorists share?

Back 3

1. The role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature. 2. That readers do not passively consumer the meaning presented to them by an objective literary text; rather they actively make the meaning they find in literature.

Front 4

What does active reading mean?

Back 4

The knowledge we have acquired, personal experiences, mood, and out purpose for reading help us produce meaning from text. Drawing on these experiences to make meaning from the text is active reading.

Front 5

What are the five approaches to reader-response theory?

Back 5

Transactional reader-response theory, affective stylistics, subjective reader-response theory, psychological reader-response theory, and social reader-response theory.

Front 6

How does Rosenblatt define Transactional reader-response theory?

Back 6

She claims that both the text and the reader are necessary in the production of meaning. She defines text as the printed words on the page. She defines reader and poem, which refers to the literary work produced by the text and the reader together.

Front 7

Define stimulus. What reader-response theory does this apply to?

Back 7

Stimulus refers to how the text triggers our response to the text. This applies to Rosenblatt's definition of Transactional reader-response theory.

Front 8

What influences our perception of the text?

Back 8

The text itself, literature we have previously encountered, current physical condition, mood, and our accumulated knowledge.

Front 9

Define blueprint. What reader-response theory does this apply to?

Back 9

The text acts as a blueprint that we can use to correct our interpretation when we realize it has traveled too far afield of what is written on the page. The text guides our self-corrective process as we read and will continue to do so after the reading is finished if we go back and reread portions, or the entire text, in order to develop or complete our interpretation. This applies to Rosenblatt's definition of Transactional reader-response theory.

Front 10

What is a product of the transaction between the text and the reader?

Back 10

A literary work, for example a poem, is a product of the transactional process.

Front 11

What does efferent mode mean? What approach does it apply to?

Back 11

Efferent mode is when the reader focuses just on the information contained in the text, as if it were a storehouse of facts and ideas that we could carry away with us. This applies to Rosenblatt's Transactional reader-response theory.

Front 12

What does aesthetic mode mean? What approach does it apply to?

Back 12

When reading in aesthetic mode, we experience a personal relationship to the text that focuses our attention on the emotional subtleties of its language and encourages us to make judgments. This applies to Rosenblatt's Transactional reader-response theory.

Front 13

What approach is necessary for the transactional reader-response theory?

Back 13

Without the aesthetic approach there could be no transaction between text and reader to analyze.

Front 14

What does Wolfgang Iser consider to be the two meanings every text offers? What approach is this referring to?

Back 14

Determinate and indeterminate meanings. This applies to Transactional reader-response theory.

Front 15

Define determinate meaning. What theory does this apply to?

Back 15

Determinate meaning refers to what might be called the facts of the text, certain events in the plot or physical descriptions clearly provided by the words on the page.

Front 16

Define indeterminate meaning. What theory does this apply to?

Back 16

Indeterminate meaning refers to the gaps in the text- such as actions that are not clearly explained or that seem to have multiple explanations-which allow or even invite readers to create their own interpretation. This applies to Iser's Transactional reader-response theory.

Front 17

What does retrospection mean? What theory does this apply to?

Back 17

Retrospection means thinking back to what we've read earlier in the text. It applies to Transactional reader-response theory, specifically to the interplay between determinate and indeterminate meanings.

Front 18

What does anticipation mean? What theory does this apply to?

Back 18

Anticipation of what comes next in the text. It applies to Transactional reader-response theory, specifically to the interplay between determinate and indeterminate meanings.

Front 19

What does revision mean? What theory does it apply to?

Back 19

Revision of our understanding of characters and events; and so on. It applies to Transactional reader-response theory, specifically to the interplay between determinate and indeterminate meanings.

Front 20

What does Iser think about the transactional process?

Back 20

The work will shift between determinate and indeterminate meanings as our point of view shifts among the various perspectives provided by the narrator, characters, unfolding plot, etc. Though the reader projects meaning onto the text, the reading activities through which we construct that meaning are prestructured by, or built into, the text. Iser believes that the text itself guides us through the processes involved in interpreting (projecting meaning onto) it.

Front 21

What is affective stylistic approach to reader-response theory?

Back 21

It is derived from analyzing further the notion that a literary text is an event that occurs in time- that comes into being as it is read- rather than an object that exists in space. The text is examined closely, often line by line or even word by word, in order to understand how (stylistics) it affects (affective) the reader in the process of reading.

Front 22

Do many practitioners of affective stylistics consider the text an objective, autonomous entity?

Back 22

No, many practitioners do not consider the text an objective, autonomous entity - it does not have a fixed meaning independent of readers- because the text consists of the results it produces, and those results occur within the reader.

Front 23

How else can affective stylistics approach to reader-response theory be described?

Back 23

It is not a description of the reader's impressionistic responses but a cognitive analysis of the mental processes produced by specific elements in the text. It is the phrase by phrase analysis of how the text structures the reader's response.

Front 24

How does the text's structure influence the reader's response according to affective stylistics approach?

Back 24

The response is used to show that the meaning of the text does not consist of the final conclusion we draw about what the text says; rather, the meaning of the text consists of our experience of what the text does to us as we read it.

Front 25

What is provided to show that the text is about the experience of reading according to affective stylistics?

Back 25

Thematic evidence from the text itself. The theme of the text is a particular kind of reading experiencce, such as the difficulties involved in reading, the processes involved in making sense of the text, or the inevitability of misreading. The use of thematic evidence underscores the important role played by the text in establishing what the reader's experience is.

Front 26

What is subjective reader-response theory according to Bleich?

Back 26

Readers' responses are the text, both in the sense that there is no literary text beyond the meanings created by readers' interpretations and in the sense that the text the critic analyzes is not the literary work but the written responses of the reader.

Front 27

How does Bleich define real objects? What reader-response theory does this apply to?

Back 27

Real objects are physical objects, such as tables, chairs, cars, books, and the like. The printed pages of a literary text are real objects. This applies to the subjective reader-response theory.

Front 28

How does Bleich define symbolic objects? What reader-response theory does this apply to?

Back 28

The experience created when someone reads those printed pages, like language itself, is a symbolic object because it occurs not in the physical world but in the conceptual world, that is, in the mind of the reader. The feelings, associations, and the memories that occur as we react subjectively to the printed words on the page. Our perception and identification of our reading experience create a conceptual, or symbolic, world in our mind as we read. This applies to the subjective reader-response theory.

Front 29

How does Bleich define resymbolization? What reader-response theory does this apply to?

Back 29

Resymbolization is the act of interpretation. It occurs when our experience of the text produces in us a desire for explanation. Our evaluation of the text's quality: we don't like or dislike a text; we like or dislike our symbolization of it. This applies to the subjective reader-response theory.

Front 30

How does Bleich define the production of knowledge? What reader-response theory does this apply to?

Back 30

What we take to be objective knowledge is actually produced by the questions we ask and the instruments we use to find the answers. "Truth" isn't an "objective" reality waiting to be discovered; its constructed by communities of people to fulfill specific needs produced by specific historical, sociological, and psychological situations. This applies to the subjective reader-response theory.

Front 31

How does Bleich define response statement? What theory does this apply to?

Back 31

A response statement is valid within the context of some group of readers for whose purpose it is useful, he stresses that, in order to be useful to the classroom community, a response statement must be negotiable into knowledge about reading experiences. It is the production of knowledge about the experience of reading a specific text, not about the reader or the reality outside the reader. Applies to subjective reader-response theory.

Front 32

How does Bleich define reader-oriented response statements? What theory does this apply to?

Back 32

Reader-oriented response statements substitute talk about oneself for talk about one's reading experience. They are confined largely to comments about the reader's memories, interests, personal experiences, and the like, with little or no reference to the relationship between these comments and the experience of reading the text. Applies to subjective reader-response theory.

Front 33

How does Bleich define reality oriented response statements? What theory does this apply to?

Back 33

Reality oriented response statements substitute talk about issues in the world for talk about one's experiences. They are confined largely to the expression of one's opinions about politics, religion, gender issues, and the like, with little or no reference to the relationship between these opinions and the experience of reading the text. This applies to subjective reader-response theory.

Front 34

What type of response statement does Bleich promote? What theory does this apply to?

Back 34

Bleich promotes experience oriented response statements. These statements discuss the reader's reactions to the text, describing exactly how the passages make the reader feel, think, or associate. It includes judgments about specific characters, events, passages, and events in the text. Applies to subjective reader-response theory.

Front 35

How is the experience oriented response statement analyzed by the reader in a response-analysis statement? What theory does this apply to?

Back 35

The reader characterizes his or her response to the text as a whole; identifies the various responses prompted by different aspects of the text, which, of course, ultimately led to the student's response to the text as a whole; determines why these responses occurred. It is a thorough, detailed explanation of the relationship among specific textual elements, specific personal response, and the meaning the text has for the student as a result of his or her personal encounter with it. Applies to subjective reader-response theory.