Reader response
Reader Response believes that a text is meaningless until a reader examines and responds to it. It is grounded in the belief that readers actively create, rather than passively discover, meaning in a text. This process is guided by personal or societal goals, norms, and rules.
READER RESPONSE CRITICISM
Reader-response criticism also overlaps with all the other possible lenses because it allows for the reader to engage with their experience and belief (culture, upbringing, etc.) as part of their understanding and analysis of the text. For example, with gender/queer criticism Reader Response would overlap by exploring how men and women read the same text with different assumptions.
While reader-response criticism rejects the notion that there can be a single correct reading for a literary text, it doesn't consider all the readings permissible. Each text creates limits to its possible interpretations. We cannot suddenly change the setting, the way a story's plot unfolds, or redefine its characters.
READER RESPONSE CRITICISM
- Turns the spotlight on the reader; focuses on the reader's experiences.
- It is an opportunity for self-reflection, but at the same time, it is not a "free for all". It is an opportunity to combine expectation, past experience, and current moods to one's response while identifying your knowledge/understanding of the text
- The difficult position of this critic is to ensure that one's ideas are used in combination with the text.
- The key of this critique is that is values the reader's responses by emphasizing his or her own personal experiences, thus, illustrating that the reader's life is an important facet and tool for critique.
- The interpretation of texts changes each time you read the same text because your experiences change.
Reader-response criticism also overlaps with all the other possible lenses because it allows for the reader to engage with their experience and belief (culture, upbringing, etc.) as part of their understanding and analysis of the text. For example, with gender/queer criticism Reader Response would overlap by exploring how men and women read the same text with different assumptions.
While reader-response criticism rejects the notion that there can be a single correct reading for a literary text, it doesn't consider all the readings permissible. Each text creates limits to its possible interpretations. We cannot suddenly change the setting, the way a story's plot unfolds, or redefine its characters.