Foundational Questions of Reader-Response Criticism

 Who is the reader? Who is the implied reader?

 What experiences, thoughts, or knowledge does the text evoke?
 What aspects or characters of the text do you identify or disidentify with, and how does this process of
identification affect your response to the text?
 What is the difference between your general reaction to (e.g., like or dislike) and reader-oriented interpretation of
the text?

Online Example: Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”: A Reader’s Response

Discussion Questions and Activities: Reader-Response Criticism

1. List and define two to three of the key terms you would consider to approach a text from a reader-response approach.
2. Explain why a text that has not been interpreted by a reader is an “incomplete text.”
3. Using the Folger Digital Texts from the Folger Shakespeare Library, interpret the soliloquy in act three, scene one,
lines 64-98 of Hamlet from a reader-response approach. Consider the following questions as you construct your
response: what previous experiences do you have with the drama or poetry of William Shakespeare, and how have
those experiences shaped the way you currently approach his work? If you read this soliloquy in the past, has your
view of it changed? Why?
4. Differentiate between your general opinion of Hamlet’s soliloquy (your like or dislike of it) and your interpretation of
it.
5. In your view, what does Hamlet mean when he says, “To be or not to be—that is the question” (3.1.64)? Defend your
interpretation.

https://writingcommons.org/section/research/research-methods/textual-methods/literary-criticism/reader-response-
criticism/

A reader response assignment asks you to explain and defend your personal reaction to an
assigned text. Reader response papers can be difficult because they force you, the reader,
to take responsibility for giving meaning to the text.

eneral Overview

Reader response theory identifies the significant role of the reader in constructing textual meaning. In
acknowledging the reader’s essential role, reader response diverges from early text-based views found in New
Criticism, or brain-based psychological perspectives related to reading. Literacy scholars such as David Bleich,
Norman Holland, Stanley Fish, and Wolfgang Iser are instrumental in crafting what has come to be known as
reader response. The theory maintains that textual meaning occurs within the reader in response to text and
recognizes that each reader is situated in a particular manner that includes factors such as ability, culture, gender,
and overall experiences. However, according to Tomkins’s 1980 edited volume Reader-Response Criticism: From
Formalism to Post-structuralism, reader response is not a representation of a uniform position, but is rather a term
associated with theorists whose work addresses the reader, the reading process, and textual response. Although
Tompkins omits the work of Louise Rosenblatt, it is Rosenblatt’s work that has come to have a vast influence in the
field of reader response. Prior to the work of the New Critics, Louise Rosenblatt wrote the now-seminal
text Literature as Exploration, first published in 1938, which was distinct in emphasizing both the reader and the
text. In later editions of the text, Rosenblatt draws on the work of John Dewey and shifts from the use of the word
“interaction” to describe reading as a “transaction,” thus giving life to the transactional theory of reading. The
references in this section, including Applebee 1992, Beach 1993, Barton 2002, and Harkin 2005, provide an
overview of reader response theory.

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190221911/obo-9780190221911-0107.xml

The reader reaction emphasizes the importance of the reader's contribution in text interpretation. This theory, which rejects the
assumption that every literary work has a single, set meaning, maintains that the individual generates his or her own meaning
through a "transaction" with the text based on personal connections. Thus, reader responses can be considered effective tools
for analyzing literature in terms of its meaning to each particular reader.

Reader responses are important because they show how different readers can interpret a text in different ways. The response
itself does not determine whether or not it is valid; rather, the validity of a response depends on how well it explains what the
reader thought about the text. If a reader response fails to explain why and how he or she reacted to the text, then it cannot be
used as evidence for interpreting the text.

Furthermore, reader responses can help scholars understand what aspects of the text might have attracted certain readers but
not others. For example, a response that says that a poem is beautiful but lacks depth may help scholars know that readers who
find beauty important in art tend to avoid poems that focus on intellectual discussion. Such knowledge could help scholars
write more clearly focused essays that will be more likely to attract such readers.
Finally, reader responses can help scholars learn what elements of the text readers find most interesting or relevant.
Who developed the reader's response?
The transactional reader-response hypothesis, pioneered by Louise Rosenblatt and backed by Wolfgang Iser, entails a
transaction between the inferred meaning of the text and the reader's particular interpretation, which is impacted by their
personal emotions and knowledge. It is this interaction that gives rise to subjective interpretations of texts.
Rosenblatt and Iser argued that readers respond to literature in a direct and immediate way, and that the most effective way
to reach such readers is through the medium of print. They proposed that readers form an opinion of the author based on what
they perceive as their purpose in reading the work, which influences how they interpret subsequent events within the story.
For example, if the reader perceives the author as being serious then he or she will be likely to infer that the events described
are real, whereas if they believe the author is having fun then they might think any dramatic scenes that appear in the text were
intended as parody.

Furthermore, readers who enjoy a book tend to want to discuss it with others, so authors should write in such a way that there
is enough detail for readers to imagine themselves into the story, but not so much that it becomes boring or repetitive. They
also need to provide sufficient clues about characters' motives that readers can make judgments about what will happen next.

What are the principles of reader-response theory?

The Fundamental Principles of Reader-Response Theory The reader, not the text, is the most crucial component in literary
interpretation. In truth, there is no text unless there is a reader, and only the reader knows what the text is. The reader
contributes to the creation of the text in the same way as the author does. It is he or she who selects what will be included or
excluded from what is written, who makes certain interpretations possible by reading into the text his or her own ideas about it.
Reader response theory was developed by J.B. Pratt in the late 1940s and early 1950s. His main idea was that readers bring
their own experiences to what they read, which influences how they interpret the text.

Pratt believed that literature should be interpreted by looking at how a text affects its audience rather than focusing on the
intentions of the author alone. He also thought that readers' responses to texts were important factors in understanding them, so
he proposed that literary works should be considered as reflections of their times, with the aim of helping readers understand
these periods better.
Pratt's work laid the foundation for modern theories of reader-response criticism. Today, this type of theory is used by
literary scholars to explain what readers think about texts, including novels, plays, movies, and songs. They try to find out what
readers believe the authors want them to think about the topics covered in the writings.
What is the reader-based approach?
Based on reader-response critique, the reader-centered approach stresses the person as a reader-responder. It contends that
reading a literary work is a multifaceted activity involving collaboration between the writer, the text, and the reader. By
engaging with the text in diverse ways (e.g., discussing it with others, thinking about it afterward), the reader contributes to the
interpretation of the text.
Some scholars have argued that Rachael Carli's theory of reader response is equivalent to James Phelan's contextual analysis.
However, other scholars maintain that Carli's theory is not identical to Phelan's theory or any other existing critical framework.
For example, Elizabeth Jane Evans argues that Carli's concept of participatory sensing is quite different from that of George
Levine who developed it within the context of New Criticism.
Furthermore, Robert Scholes claims that Carli's theoretical framework can account for both positive and negative responses to
texts. But according to Scholes, this ability is not possible under Phelan's theory which can only explain how readers respond
positively to texts.
Thus, it can be said that Carli's reader-response theory extends Phelan's work by considering texts as social objects that need to
be interpreted by readers who participate in the process.

What does the reader response theory require the reader of literature to do?
The Goal of Reader Response Reader-response argues that the reader's part is critical to the meaning of a book, because only
through the reading experience can the literary work come alive. As a result, the goal of a reading response is to investigate,
explain, and justify your own reaction to a book. You do this by writing about it.

Your response should be written in a formal essay that makes use of examples, analyses evidence from the text, and draws
conclusions about what the author meant by his or her choices. Although not required, it is helpful if you include a title for
your response - this will help others identify your level of understanding of the text.
Book reviews are common examples of reading responses. A review should describe one's reaction to the book, including any
interesting aspects or problems with it. It is important to remember that while a book review must be unbiased, it can still
favor either the writer's opinion or that of the reader. Book reviews can be published for many reasons other than interest in the
subject matter; for example, they may be used to promote sales of a book series or list of books to be released soon. Readers
may also choose to write their own book reviews - this is called "blogging".
Reading responses are appropriate for works of all genres. You might want to read some of Paul Ricoeur's essays to get an
idea of how readers' responses are applied to philosophical texts.
How does the reader respond to the message of the writer?
It is how the writer's message would be received by the readers. There would be no readers if the writer did not create his
work. And there would be no sense of possession if people read the writers' work. It is a two-way street in which both parties
must fulfill their responsibilities. 1. Literary Theory's Reader-Response Theory: The contemporary reader-response theory
focuses on the interaction between text and reader. According to this theory, meaning is derived from the mutual
understanding and interpretation of the words as they are interpreted by each individual reader. 2. Rhetoric's Viewpoint: The
viewpoint of rhetoric is the lens through which one views the world, which determines how that person will interpret
information provided.
Literary theorists have suggested several different ways in which readers respond to the writers' messages. One way is called
"implicit criticism." This type of response happens when the readers perceive something wrong with the writing but do not
express their opinion directly. For example, if the writer uses poor grammar or spelling in his story, some readers will criticize
him for it. However, they still enjoy the story, even though they know the writer has some problems with language usage. They
feel compelled to point out these errors in order to help the writer improve his writing skills. This type of response is called
implicit criticism because the readers reveal their opinions about the writing indirectly. They do this by showing what they like
or don't like about it.

https://authorscast.com/what-is-the-importance-of-reader-response-approach