Multiple readers of the same text will have subjective and unique interactions, connections, and experiences that are unlike those of any other reader. “Feelings are evoked not just by the text, but by the text combining with the reader’s prior experience with life and literature, as well the reader’s present mood and purposes” (Kane, 2011, p. 17)
Louise Rosenblatt’s groundbreaking work Literature as Exploration (1938) and later work The Reader, the Text, the Poem (1978), rejects the idea that there is a single, fixed meaning inherent in a literary work as was common in the formalist theories of New Criticism, but rather that the individual creates meaning through a transaction with the text based on personal associations (Mora & Welch, 2014).
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Instead of a contrast or break between the ordinary reader and the knowledgeable critic, we need to stress the basic affinity of all readers of literary works of art. The general reader needs to honor his own relationship with the text. (1978, p. 140)
Rosenblatt makes a strong statement against elitism based on the “quality” of one’s reading preferences by noting that the readings of great or technically complex works and the more popular works read for pleasure “share some common attributes: the aesthetic stance, the living-through, under guidance of the text, of feelings, ideas, actions, conflicts, and resolutions beyond the scope of the reader’s own world” (1978, p. 143). She discusses the literary critic, “not as a model, but as a fellow reader, with whom to agree or disagree” (1978, p. 149).
What this means for education is that in order to promote natural curiosity, problem-solving ability, and general intellectual growth in students, teachers must provide real opportunities to interact with a variety of texts (Kane, 2011). The outdated, yet common, educational practice of asking students text related questions with one specific answer is no longer a valid method of teaching text (Kane, 2011). Galda and Liang (2003)
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If students understand that the teacher’s questions will focus on the students’ lived-through experience of the story or poem, then they will learn to read aesthetically. (p. 271)
Rosenblatt contends that the concept of transactional analysis of literature has profound implications for the educational system. She says:
A primary concern throughout would be the development of the individual’s capacity to adopt and to maintain the aesthetic stance, to live fully and personally in the literary transaction. From this could flow growth in all the kinds of resources needed for transactions with increasingly demanding and increasingly rewarding texts. And from this would flow, also, a humanistic concern for the relation of the individual literary event to the continuing life of the reader in all its facets—aesthetic, moral, economic, or social. (1978, p. 161)
Learning is a constructive and dynamic process in which students extract meaning from texts through experiencing, hypothesizing, exploring, and synthesizing. Rosenblatt
The fear of reading literature and not being able to comprehend the ideas presented forces readers to create a deeper meaning through annotations, as expressed through Billy Collins’ use of comparative imagery and aggressive diction in “Marginalia” and “Introduction to Poetry.” Collins’ choice to
...terpretations of the literary experience the book provided. From the chosen evidence the ‘planning for learning experiences’ and instructions could begin.
Joyce Carol Oates' message of life and transitions is best understood when the reader brings his or her interpretation to meet with the author's intention at a middle ground. This type of literary analysis is known as Reader Response. In Reader-Response, the emphasis is placed on "the idea that various readers respond in various ways, and therefore [the] readers as well as authors 'create' meaning" (Barnet, et. al. 1997). In this story of life passages and crucial events, it is imperative that the reader has a solid response to Oates' efforts in order to fully comprehend the message. Literature is a combined meeting between the intentions of the author and the reaction of the reader.
Bambara, Toni. ?The Lesson?. Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience. Shorter 7th ed. Ed. Richard Abacian and Marvin Koltz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 121-126.
Although the greater picture is that reading is fundamental, the two authors have a few different messages that they seek to communicate to their audiences. “The Joy of Reading and Writing” depicts how reading serves as a mechanism to escape the preconceived notions that constrain several groups of people from establishing themselves and achieving success in their lifetimes. “Reading to Write,” on the other hand, offers a valuable advice to aspiring writers. The author suggests that one has to read, read, and read before he or she can become a writer. Moreover, he holds an interesting opinion concerning mediocre writing. He says, “Every book you pick has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (p.221). Although these two essays differ in their contents and messages, the authors use the same rhetorical mode to write their essays. Both are process analyses, meaning that they develop their main argument and provide justification for it step by step. By employing this technique, the two authors create essays that are thoughtful, well supported, and easy to understand. In addition, Alexie and King both add a little personal touch to their writings as they include personal anecdotes. This has the effect of providing support for their arguments. Although the two essays have fairly different messages, the authors make use of anecdotes and structure their writing in a somewhat similar
Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 5th ed. of the book. Boston: Heinle, 2004.
As one of the most renowned and well-known literary critics in the world of composition, Harold Bloom has self-importantly granted himself the privilege of specifying the reasons as to why we read. From human connection to self-actualization to the acquirement of knowledge, he adheres passionately and unquestionably that “the strongest, most authentic motive for deep reading…is the search for a difficult pleasure.” Bloom, as an experienced critic, fully recognizes the task of judging a book for its merit.
Everyone comes from their own background, and has their own opinions about the world around them. They bring those thoughts and prejudices with them into every text they read, meaning they see what they expect to see. The author claims that close reading leads to ethical reading, ethical reading meaning the reader is listening to the author’s voice within the text, truly understanding and listening to that which the author is saying. Close reading forces the reader to temporarily abandon their preconceptions and “by concentrating on the details, we disrupt our projection; we are forced to see what is really there” (Gallop p.11). The author provides some historical context, in relation to the “new criticism” method of teaching. Between the 1950’s and 1970’s new criticism, “allowed students to appreciate the complexity of literary writing, to see the artful work, rather than merely themes and ideas.” (Gallop p.13). The issue with new criticism being that only “great” works or authors were considered “worthy” of analysis in that manner. Unfortunately, most work that was considered “great” within that period were written by men of European descent. Within the past few decades the multicultural movement has made reading lists in schools more diverse, making understanding the voice of authors more important than ever, as to not reinforce stereotypes and
The “hermeneutic activity –the practice of close reading” (373) is what Love evaluates next. The practice of close reading became the framework of hermeneutics in the early 20th century and has been the foundation of text evaluation since then, no matter what different literary approaches and cultural changes were present, since “the richness of texts continues to serve as a carrier for an allegedly superannuated humanism”(373). Her own assertion regarding the interpretation of texts can be interpreted in sev...
Reader-Response theories propose that works of literature exist in a mutual relationship between the reader and author. The meaning that a reader extracts from a text is a simultaneous result of both the author’s intent, and the reader’s interpretation of it (Roberts, 149). With this theory, there is an inherent subjectivity associated with the analysis of any work of literatur. An author may have a specific meaning to the story but another person can read the story and create his or her own interpretation that is just as meaningful as the author’s original ideas. Put another way, meani...
In conclusion, I would say that the power of literature is connoted exactly in this unparalleled symbolic order of language that can never produce or pin down a definite meaning but nevertheless passes on "the desire and curse of meaning”. It is what the transcendent signification of the text that leaves the reader always anticipating and curious and at the same time delighted from the pleasure this play of the authors brings to her/him. On the other hand there is always this uncanny component of meaning that cannot be clarified or rationalized but nevertheless is an intrinsic part to our reading experience.
As a writer, I struggled my first semester, which took a huge toll on my excitement for both English and writing. Although, I came to realize that with a little help, proofreading, and editing (several times), I was able to generate a well-written essay or at best an average one. Regardless of my poor start, I continued to appreciate my love of English language arts courses. I was blown away by all the juicy classical literature and landmark poems I was able to read and comprehend. I loved all of my classes in college, and I honestly enjoyed the readings! There is so much that can be learned from examining literature and research. Without having read and wrote countless assignments about various topics, novels, poems, and more, I do not believe I would still be motivated to become a high school English teacher and literature professor. My love of reading is a love that I hope will be contagious enough for my future students to capture and spread. In the meanwhile, my continuous love of the Brothers Grimm Tales has inspired a concentration in Children’s literature for my second master’s degree, and I am almost positive that I have conjured a snippet of my future dissertation as well from observations in select
Literary criticism is used as a guideline to help analyze, deconstruct, interpret, or even evaluate literary works. Each type of criticism offers its own methods that help the reader to delve deeper into the text, revealing all of its innermost features. New Criticism portrays how a work is unified, Reader-Response Criticism establishes how the reader reacts to a work, Deconstructive Criticism demonstrates how a work falls apart, Historical Criticism illustrates how the history of the author and the author’s time period influence a text, and last of all, Psychological Criticism expresses how unconscious motivations drive the author in the creation of their work as well as how the reader’s motivations influence their own interpretation of the text (Lynn 139, 191). This creates a deep level of understanding of literature that simply cannot be gained through surface level reading. If not one criticism is beneficial to the reader, then taking all criticisms or a mixture of specific criticisms into consideration might be the best way to approach literary
It is important that when selecting complex text educators look for specific factors that would meet each reader’s needs. These factors include language proficiency, background knowledge and experiences, and level of motivation. Depending on the factors mentioned, the educators can differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of the students where they could read a text and apply strategies learned. It is important to understand the text complexity because we do want readers to read text which are not challenging enough or that are extremely challenge that would make their self-efficacy low. Therefore, when Fisher & Frey (2012) stated the factors to take into consideration when selecting a text are established, readers would interact with the text. Moreover, the use of comprehension strategies like question and answer relationships (Reutzel & Cooter, 2016) would help the readers comprehend the text as they read
The New Critics, just like Wimsatt and Beardsley put forward in their essay, also believed in the ‘organicity’ of the text. In the essay, they write, “A poem should not mean but be.” And, since the meaning of the poem or the text is the medium through which it can exist, and words, in turn, is the medium through which the meaning is expressed, the poem or the text b...