ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Foundational Questions of Reader-Response Criticism Who is the reader? Who is the implied reader? What experiences, thoughts, or knowledge does the text evoke? What aspects or characters of the text do you identify or disidentify with, and how does this process of identification affect your response to the text?

Detailed explanation-2: -For example, in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), the monster doesn’t exist, so to speak, until the reader reads Frankenstein and reanimates it to life, becoming a co-creator of the text. Thus, the purpose of a reading response is examining, explaining, and defending your personal reaction to a text.

Detailed explanation-3: -Reader response theory identifies the significant role of the reader in constructing textual meaning. In acknowledging the reader’s essential role, reader response diverges from early text-based views found in New Criticism, or brain-based psychological perspectives related to reading.

Detailed explanation-4: -The reader response theory suggests that the role of the reader is essential to the meaning of a text, for only in the reading experience does the literary work come alive. The theory believes that the role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature.