This document provides an overview of Reader Response theory and criticism. Some key points: 1) Reader Response criticism focuses on the reader's role in constructing the meaning of a literary work, as meaning does not reside solely in the text itself but depends on the reader's engagement. 2) This school of criticism emerged in the 1970s and is championed by theorists like Fish, Holland, Iser, and Rosenblatt. It positions the reader as an active participant rather than a passive recipient. 3) According to this view, different readers can generate multiple valid interpretations based on their own experiences and backgrounds, though interpretations must still be supported by evidence from the text.

1. Literary Criticism
336 ENG
(VI)
Reader Response
&
Reception Theory
Dr Mohammed Fahmy Raiyah

2. Preliminary Questions
 Are our responses to a literary work the same as its
meaning(s)?
 Does meaning exist in the text?
 Can one literary work have many meanings?
 Are some interpretations more valid than others?
Reader Response critics try to find answer to the above
questions about the relationship between meaning and
reading.

3. Introduction
 This approach focuses on the reader and his role in the
making of a literary work. The text does not exist without
the reader. Meaning of literary texts depends upon the
reader’s engagement and interaction with them. The
reader is an active participant in the production of meaning.
 This school of criticism emerged in the United States in the
1970s. Some major proponents of this approach include
 Norman Holland
 Stanley Fish
 Wolfgang Iser
 Hans-Robert Jauss
 Louise Rosenblatt
 David Bleich

4. Subjective vs Objective
 Reader Response was a reaction against the
formalist approach that concentrates only on the
text. It is subjective because it takes into
consideration the personality of the reader and the
ways he contributes to the making of the text.
Reading reveals more about the reader’s personality
than about the text.

5. The Text and Meaning
 Meaning does not solely reside in the text. Texts do not have
meaning apart from the reader. Meaning is partly the result
of the reader’s and interaction with and interpretation of the
text. (The apple does not taste good if nobody tastes it.)
 Because the meaning of the text depends on the reader’s
understanding of and feelings towards it, we can have more
than one meaning, more than one valid interpretation.

6. The Reader
 The text remains incomplete without the reader.
 The reader is not the passive recipient of ideas included in
the text by the author. He/she is active in giving
meaning to the text.
 The reader’s life experiences, his/her personality,
social and cultural background, education, gender, and
personal taste influence his/her reading of the text.

7. + =
TEXT + READER = MEANING

8. Limits of Interpretation
 Different interpretations – but not all - are
valid as long as the reader can provide
evidence in the text.
 In each text there are limits to its possible
interpretations. For example, we cannot change
the setting, the plot, or redefine the characters.

9. Textual Gaps
 Iser argues that texts contain gaps (or blanks) – things that
are not expressed – which invite the reader to interfere actively
in order to find their meaning.