University of Maryland University College Asia

English 303

David Norris

Notes on Reader Response Criticism 

1. There are three types of RR criticism: Text dominant, Text and Reader Equal, and Reader Dominant
   
   
2. New Criticism is absolutist; RR is not
   
   
3. Active and Passive readers
   
   
4.  Reader + Text = Meaning
   
   
5. Does the reader manipulate the text, or does the text manipulate the reader?
   
   
6. Are all responses to a text equally valid?
   
   
7. Structuralism: Codes, the Narratee, the 3 Readers – Real, Virtual and Ideal. The text is dominant.
   
   
8. Phenomenology: Text and Reader are equal. Reader + Text = Meaning. The Reader fills in the gaps. Interpretations change over time. A text lacks meaning if not registered in the human consciousness; it must be Concretized. The text has many possible interpretations. All interpretations are subjective.  The movies K-PAX and As Good As It Gets work well with this approach. What is the difference between the Implied Reader and the Actual Reader?
   
   
9. Subjective: Reader Dominant. The reader transforms the text into a private world, an Identity Theme. There are as many “reads” as there are readers. However, the reader must Objectify the text by providing a Collective Meaning that offers a Communal Interpretation of the text.