Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Reader Response Theory And The - Research Paper

Reader Response Theory And The

During the mid twentieth century, the literary community witnessed the descent of the New Criticism and the emergence of the reader response movement. The reader response movement sharply contrasts the theories of New Criticism in that it focuses on the importance of the reader in the creation of the literary experience. Like New Critics, reader response theorists do not entirely agree on all issues and, consequently, different branches of the movement form. The phenomenological approach represents the notion that the author and reader collaborate to produce the literary work. Phenomenologists credit the reader with having a performative role in the literary experience. Authors such ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

his essay entitled "Why Write?", describes this best when he says "the writer appeals to the reader's freedom to collaborate in the production of his work" (627). Wolfgang Iser echoes this belief in the need for readers' freedom in his essay, "The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach": "No author worth his salt will ever attempt to set the whole picture before his reader's eyes ... it is only by activating the reader's imagination that the author can hope to involve him and so realize the intentions of his text" (961). Sartre and Iser appear to imply that the reader's freedom and imagination are absolutely necessary in order for the writer to fully achieve his/her goal. THis concept seems ideal in theory, but somewhat flawed in practice. How much freedom is really allotted to the reader in the interpretation of a text?
In his essay, "Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory", Hans Robert Jauss identifies a "horizon of expectations" that every reader brings ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.

Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE:

APA
MLA
Chicago
Turabian

Reader Response Theory And The. (2008, November 23). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Reader-Response-Theory-And-The/93540

"Reader Response Theory And The." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 23 Nov. 2008. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Reader-Response-Theory-And-The/93540>

"Reader Response Theory And The." Essayworld.com. November 23, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Reader-Response-Theory-And-The/93540.

JOIN NOW

Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays

PAPER DETAILS

Added: 11/23/2008 01:31:40 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1196
Pages: 5

Save |

Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS

Save and find your favorite essays easier