ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -In the transactional theory of literature, also known as reader-response theory, a literary text does not posses a fixed or final meaning; there is no definite “correctness”. Rather, literary meaning is the result of “the two-way transactional relationship between the reader and the text” (Rosenblatt, 1978, p.

Detailed explanation-2: -Reader response stresses the importance of the reader’s role in interpreting texts. Rejecting the idea that there is a single, fixed meaning inherent in every literary work, this theory holds that the individual creates his or her own meaning through a “transaction” with the text based on personal associations.

Detailed explanation-3: -The reader response approach is heavily reader-oriented. Readers use their prior knowledge and experiences to give meaning to a text, and they are required to justify their unique interpretations of a text with textual evidence.

Detailed explanation-4: -Unlike text-based approaches such as New Criticism, which are grounded upon some objective meaning already present in the work being examined, reader-response criticism argues that a text has no meaning before a reader experiences-reads-it.