READER RESPONSE

CRITICISM Prof. Mark Joshua D. Roxas, LPT, MAEd

Essential Questions:

1. What is Reader Response Criticism?

2. How do we apply the concepts of RRC into
analyzing literary texts?
What can you say about these images?
What can you say about these images?
What can you say about these images?
SUBJECTIVE VS. OBJECTIVE
§ When we refer to something as “subjective” we mean that it
pertains to the individual (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).

§ 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?

■ 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.
WHAT IS READER RESPONSE?

■ Tyson (1954) explains that "...reader-response theorists

share two beliefs:
1) that the role of the reader cannot be omitted from our
understanding of literature and
2) 2) that readers do not passively consume the meaning
presented to them by an objective literary text; rather
they actively make the meaning they find in literature"
(154).
READER RESPONSE THEORIES, Tyson (2006)
THEORY PROPONETNT DESCRIPTION
Transactional Louise Rosenblatt; Analyzes the transaction between the text and reader. Both
Wolfgang Iser are seen as equally important. A reader can take an efferent
stance, based on determinant meanings in a text, or an
aesthetic stance, based on determinant and indeterminacy of
meanings
Affective Stylistics Stanley Fish Examines a text in a "slow motion" format, in which each
line is studied in order to determine "how (stylistics) affects
(affective) the reader in the process of reading" (Tyson,
2006, p. 175).
Subjective David Bleich Believes that the readers' responses are the text, and that all
meaning of a text lies in the readers' interpretations.
Psychological Norman Holland Analyzes what the readers' interpretations and responses
reveal about the reader, not the text.
Social Stanley Fish Believes that readers approach a text with interpretative
strategies that are the products of the "interpretive
communities" in which they belong
In a more practical sense, your critical
reading of the text must explore:
■ why you like or dislike the text;
■ explain whether you agree or disagree with the author;
■ identify the text’s purpose; and
■ critique the text.
However, RR is NOT the same as
writing a plain reaction paper.
“I liked this text because it is so cool and the ending made
me feel happy,”
or
“I hated it because it was stupid, and had nothing at all to
do with my life, and was too negative and boring.”

A systematic, analytical approach to the text

must be carried out.
Criticize based on:
■ principle, for example:
v Is the text racist?
v Does the text unreasonably puts down things, such as religion, or groups of people, such as
women or adolescents, conservatives or democrats, etc?
v Does the text include factual errors or outright lies? It is too dark and despairing? Is it falsely
positive?

■ form, for example:

v Is the text poorly written?
v Does it contain too much verbal “fat”?
v Is it too emotional or too childish?
v Does it have too many facts and figures?
v Do the ideas wander around without making a point?
Some Guide Questions:
■ What does the text have to do with you, personally, and with your life (past, present
or future)?
■ How much does the text agree or clash with your view of the world, and what you
consider right and wrong?
■ What did you learn, and how much were your views and opinions challenged or
changed by this text, if at all? Did the text communicate with you? Why or why
not?
■ How well does the text address things that you, personally, care about and consider
important to the world? How does it address things that are important to your family,
your community, your ethnic group, to people of your economic or social class or
background, or your faith tradition? If not, who does or did the text serve?
■ What can you praise about the text? What problems did you have with it?
■ How well did you enjoy the text (or not) as entertainment or as a work of art?
In formulating conclusion, you
may focus on the following:
■ your overall reaction to the text;
■ whether you would read something else like this in the
future;
■ whether you would read something else by this author;
and
■ if would you recommend read this text to someone else
and why.
Organizing your analysis
■ title of the work to which you are responding;
■ the author;
■ the main thesis of the text;
■ discussion/analysis of the text.
In a nutshell:
■ In reader-response, the reader is essential to the meaning of
a text for they bring the text to life.
■ The purpose of a reading response is examining, explaining,
and defending your personal reaction to a text.
■ Base your criticism on the principles and form of the text
itself.
■ The challenge of a reader-response is to show how you
connected with the text.
Occasional Paper #1

■ Write a Reader Response criticism of Intoy

Syokoy ng Kalye Marino ni Eros Atalia.

Deadline: April 7, 2021

Send to: mjroxas@sbca.edu.ph