Responses Evolve

 Reader-Response Theory allows for a reader

to respond differently to a text each and
every time he/she reads the text.
 As personal experiences and exposures to
literature grow, a person’s response to a
text changes.
 Readers focus on the aesthetic – the
emotional response rather than the efferent
– the informational component – of reading.
 Aesthetic reading also calls for empathy –
the reader puts himself/herself in the place
of characters to determine if the way a
character reacts is realistic or morally
similar to the reader’s response.

Salient Tenets of Reader-Response Theory

“A response paper expresses what you experienced in

reading and think about the assigned text…. [and]
should reflect your background, values, and
attitudes in response to the work, not what the
instructor thinks about it” (Kennedy 1397).

Reader-Response Theory

 encourages the reader to explore his/her

emotional response to a literary work.
 also expects readers to work as a community
to share ideas and seek common ground (Lynn
69).

The Role of the Text in Reader-Response Theory

 Any literary work/text cannot be enjoyed

unless a reader becomes actively involved in
the words woven together.
 Instead of a literary work standing alone, a
literary work is coordinately as important
as the reader.
 The literary work depends upon the reader to
assimilate[take in (information, ideas, or
culture) and understand fully] and actualize
[to make actual or real; turn into action or
fact.] the text.
 As we read, it acts as a stimulus to which
we respond in our own personal way.
Feelings, associations and memories – these
influence the way we make sense of the text.
 The literary work serves as a vehicle with a
built-in GPS, while the reader drives the
work to the final destination. Both work in
concert to arrive at an understanding.
 The text acts as a blueprint that we can use
to correct our interpretation when we have
gone too far afield of what is written on
the page.

Readers Reflect on Response, Not Interpretation

 EFFERENT-INFORMATION , FACTS, IDEAS

CONTAINED IN THE TEXT
 AESTHETIC- PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP TO THE
TEXT; EMOTIONAL ASPECTS