Rebelling against the text and the stereotypes encourages an active dialogue between the woman and the text which, in turn, guarantees an active and (most likely) angry reader response. Reader-response criticism is a school of literary theory that focuses on the reader or audience and their experiencing of a literary work, in contrast to other schools and theories which focus attention primarily on the author or the content and form of the work. 440–41. The premise of reader-response criticism is revolved around how the reader responds to the Biblical text and therefore has a predominant role in creating the meaning of the text. Reader-response criticism is a school of literary theory that focuses on the reader (or "audience") and his or her experience of a literary work, in contrast to other schools and theories that focus attention primarily on the author or the content and form of the work. History Pros and Cons History: Started in America and Germany, Work by Norman Holland, Stanley Fish, Wolfgang Iser. Print. Using this argument, it becomes clear that a woman reader (Partner A) when faced with a text written by a man (Partner B) will most likely succumb to the perspective of the writer and she is thus forced to misread the text. Reader-Response criticism offers a subjective, or egocentric, reading of a text. Vol. Though the Judge who views my mothers cooking with new criticism may bluntly say what is wrong with the food or hat is perfect, reader response criticism entails a new way of looking at my mothers dish. How could a reader create the meaning of a text? If I tell my children something, or write them a note, do I expect them to decide what it means? I have to write an essay using Reader Response Criticism. The purpose of a reading response is examining, explaining, and defending your personal reaction to a text. Reader-response criticism is a form of literary criticism which depends on the reader's response to the text. Reader Response, primarily a German and American offshoot of literary theory, emerged (prominent since 1960s) in the West mainly as a reaction to the textual emphasis of New Criticism of the 1940s. James Thurber, in the eyes of most literary critics, is one of the foremost American humorists of the 20th century, and his short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is believed to have “ushered in a major [literary] period … where the individual can maintain his self … an appropriate way of assaulting rigid forms” (Elias 432). It is often argued that reader response criticism allows for any interpretation of a text to be considered valid, and can devalue the content of the text as a result. A critic deploying reader-response theory can use a psychoanalytic lens, a feminist lens, or even a structuralist lens. She comes with her experiences as a woman—a professional woman, a divorcée, a single mother. How should my thesis be like using this criticism? For example, Mrs. Mitty asks, “‘Why don’t you wear your gloves? It is that meaning — the reader's meaning — that should be assessed, as opposed to solely looking at the author's text in a vacuum. The text is a cause of different thoughts, but does not provide a reason for one interpretation rather than another. In this theory, the reader’s interpretation of a text is thought to be deeply influenced by personal and psychological needs first, rather than being guided by the text. In reader response criticism, the act of reading is like a dialogue between the reader and the text that has meaning only when the two are joined in conversation. She is asked to identify with Rip and against herself, to scorn the amiable sex and act just like it, to laugh at Dame Van Winkle and accept that she represents ‘woman,’ to be at once both repressor and repressed, and ultimately to realize that she is neither” (11). In each of these cases, do not simply criticize, but give examples. You do not need to work through these questions in order, one by one, in your essay. Social Reader Response Criticism focuses on "interpretive communities" — groups that have shared beliefs and values — and how these groups use particular strategies that affect both the text and their reading behaviors. For example, in. Thank you! What is Reader-Response? What is Reader-Response criticism? Other critics focus on how the reader's mind relates to the text, in what is known as Psychological Reader Response Criticism. Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent wiseGEEK working on her first novel. William Vesterman. Ed. In a woman’s eyes, her reading is simply a struggle for equality within the text and in the world outside that the text reflects. A theory, which gained prominence in the late 1960s, that focuses on the reader or audience reaction to a particular text, perhaps more than the text itself. Traditional, text-oriented critics often think of reader-response criticism as an anarchic subjectivism, allowing Reader-response criticism is a school of literary theory that focuses on the reader (or “audience”) and their experience of a literary work, in contrast to other schools and theories that focus attention primarily on the author or the content and form of the work.. 3. Ty… Do the ideas wander around without making a point? But in so doing, she is also distancing herself from the text, not fully embracing it or its meaning in her life. What Are the Main Elements of New Historicism? Likewise, a woman who is unable to have children might respond to a story of a child’s death more emotionally than a woman who does not want children. Readers create meaning by interacting with text based on their outside interests and expectations. For example, if you take a poem that could legitimately be interpreted in two different ways, the meaning would exist in the reader's struggle to choose, not in one of the two "real" meanings. It redefines the role of the text from an independent object into something that can only exist when it is read and interacts with the mind of the reader. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. i don't fully understand this because if the reader is suppose to interpret the text, how can anyone say that their opinion might not be valid? It is the group that then determines what an acceptable interpretation of the text is, with the meaning being whatever the group says that it is. New Criticism, the culmination of … As a literary criticism, reader response criticism considers readers’ reactions to literature as vital to interpreting the meaning of the text. is it the reader who manipulates the text or the text? The reader is seen as a psychological subject who can be studied based on his or her unconscious drives brought to the surface by his or her reaction to a text. “James Thurber: Artist in Humor.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. thanks whoever posted. It could seem nonsensical, but I think it is a solid literary analysis approach. RR critics believe that a readers interaction with the text gives the text its meaning. It redefines the role of the text from an independent object into something that can only exist when it is read and interacts with the mind of the reader. It holds that meaning does not reside in the text, but in the mind of the reader. Thus, the purpose of a reading response is examining, explaining, and defending your personal reaction to a text. The text cannot exist without the reader. Print. Then, include 3-4 paragraphs that discuss and analyze the text. Rosenblatt argued that, while the reader is guided by the ideas and words that the author laid out, it is ultimately each individual reader's experience in reading the work that actually gives it meaning. As a beginning scholar, be cautious of criticizing any text as “boring,” “crazy,” or “dull.” If you do criticize, base your criticism on the principles and form of the text itself. Finally, the clearest way in which Mrs. Mitty is portrayed as a burdensome wife is at the end of the piece when Walter, waiting for his wife to exit the store, imagines that he is facing “the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last” (289). Reader response criticism is a different story. For these schools of criticism, it's what the text does to the reader that's important, and not necessarily the work itself, the author's intent, or the social, political, or cultural context in which it was written. I became a resisting reader. This allows theorists to explain why people can have different responses to and interpretations of the same text. I found myself initially wishing that Mrs. Mitty would just let Walter daydream in peace. Rosenblatt, Louise M. Literature as Exploration. Reader-response critics hold that, to understand the literary experience or the meaning of a text, one must look to the processes readers use to create that meaning and experience. Reader Response is a critical theory that stresses the importance of the role of the reader in constructing the meaning of a work of literature. This reader is guided by the text, which contains gaps meant for the reader to fill, explaining and making connections within the text. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1978. Since each person brings unique knowledge and beliefs to the reading transaction, the text will mean different things to different people. Or the female reader might identify Mrs. Mitty with her controlling mother-in-law and chuckle at Mitty’s attempts to escape her control, just as her husband tries to escape the criticism and control of his own mother. She could read Walter’s daydreams as his attempt to dominate his wife, since all of his fantasies center on him in traditional roles of power. This, in turn, leads to a concept called “asymmetrical contingency,” described by Iser as that which occurs “when Partner A gives up trying to implement his own behavioral plan and without resistance follows that of Partner B. It is certain that women misread “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” I did. Dedria Bryfonski. The text functions only as a canvas onto which the reader projects whatever his or her reactions may be. That is, the reader may be able to see the value in his or her own personal response while also analyzing the text based on another critical approach. The premise of reader-response criticism is revolved around how the reader responds to the Biblical text and therefore has a predominant role in creating the meaning of the text. of all half-baked, arbitrary, personal comments on literary works. • 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. title of the work to which you are responding; whether you would read something else like this in the future; whether you would read something else by this author; and. The result, it seems, is for a woman reader of a story like “Rip Van Winkle” or “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” to either be excluded from the text, or accept the negative images of women the story puts forth. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include 5. Print. Post-behaviorist psychologists of reading and of perception support the idea that it … Fish argued that the struggle to find meaning in a text is the meaning of the text. In this way, the reader is not a passive recipient of what the text says, but rather takes an active role. Hey, just wanted to say that this article was very useful. This little known plugin reveals the answer. Remember, however, that you are writing an essay, not filling out a short-answer worksheet. This theory makes literary works more like performance art where the reader's act of reading and interpreting the text is the performance. The text then serves as … Theorist Stanley Fish introduced what he called the "informed reader," who brings prior, shared knowledge to the experience of reading. I have to write about the poem, "I have visited again" by Alexander Pushkin. 5. By accepting the author’s perspective and reading the text as he intended, the woman reader is forced to disregard her own, female perspective. There are different approaches within this school of critical theory, however; some look at the work from the individual reader's point of view, while others focus on how groups or communities view the text. When she does speak to him, it seems reflective of the way a mother would speak to a child. Mrs. Mitty is a direct literary descendant of the first woman to be stereotyped as a nagging wife, Dame Van Winkle, the creation of the American writer, Washington Irving. Reader-response criticism relates to psychology, both experimental psychology for those attempting to find principles of response, and psychoanalytic psychology for those studying individual responses. Reader-response suggests that the role of the reader is essential to the meaning of a text, for only in the reading experience does the literary work come alive. The sounds and shapes that words make or even how they are pronounced or spoken by the reader can essentially alter the meaning of the text, it is suggested. Have you lost your gloves?’ Walter Mitty reached in a pocket and brought out the gloves. The author's intentions are acknowledged but do not mandate one interpretation of a text. By rebelling against the text, the female reader not only has to understand the point of view of the author and the male audience, but she also has to formulate her own opinions and create a sort of dialogue between the text and herself. It is too dark and despairing? Print. Hasley, Louis. As Fetterley points out, “The consequence for the female reader is a divided self. She could see Walter as a man with a fleeting grip on reality who daydreams that he is a fighter pilot, a brilliant surgeon, a gun expert, or a military hero, when he actually is a poor driver with a slow reaction time to a green traffic light. Wouldn't that be the author of a text? The female reader could simply misread the text. For example, feminist literary critics may find focus on the female elements of a writing, whereas new historicists might focus on the culture and era in which the text is read. To write a reader response, develop a clear thesis statement and choose example passages from the text that support your thesis. Tompkins, Jane P. “An Introduction to Reader-Response Criticism.” Reader Response Criticism: From Formalism to Post-Structuralism. Not only is Mrs. Mitty portrayed as a mothering, bothersome hen, but she is ultimately described as that which will be the death of Walter Mitty. RR criticism is still a disciplined theory deserving of a careful reading of the text. However, reader-response criticism can take a number of different approaches. Due to pre-existing sociosexual standards, women see characters, family structures, even societal structures from the bottom as an oppressed group rather than from a powerful position on the top, as men do. At its most basic level, reader-response criticism considers readers' reactions to literature as vital to interpreting the meaning of the text. T The content of the text is taken from the literature by the individual reader for … Not only is his wife annoying to him, but she is also distant and removed from what he cares about, like a stranger. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Literature: An Introduction to Critical Reading. Lindner, Carl M. “Thurber’s Walter Mitty—The Underground American Hero.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. The female reader could read critics of Thurber who say that by allowing his wife to dominate him, Mitty becomes a “non-hero in a civilization in which women are winning the battle of the sexes” (Hasley 533) and become angry that a woman’s fight for equality is seen merely as a battle between the sexes. and his or her experience of a literary work, in contrast to other ") schools and theories that focus attention primarily on the author or the content and form of the work. The argument that any interpretation can be valid is false, because one would need to support their claim with evidence from the text. She could see the faults in a relationship that is too controlled by a woman and recognize that a man needs to feel important and dominant in his relationship with his wife. Jane P. Tompkins. the Swedish proverb: ‘Spectators also create’—at the theatre.) The label "reader-oriented criticism" has become popular since the reader's experiences and expectations often change as time passes. Thurber, James. When writing a reader-response, write as an educated adult addressing other adults or fellow scholars. The "implied reader," for example, an idea introduced by Wolfgang Iser, is the reader who is required for the text — the reader who the author imagines when writing, and who he or she is writing for. As an extension of the social theory, these like-minded groups can also approach and view the text from different lenses. What is the effect of a text on the reader when the reader dislikes it? Fetterley, Judith. The challenge of a reader-response is to show how you connected with the text. 532–34. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1981. Print. The rigid form in Thurber’s story is Mrs. Mitty, the main character’s wife. Here you will find an in-depth look at one of them: Reader-Response. 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