Tag Archives: Reader Response Theory

Great Literature Shifts Expectations

In which I sum up Reader Reader Response theory as formulated by Hans Robert Jauss, who believes that great lit expands horizon of expectations.

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Why I Think the Way I Think

I survey my intellectual history, especially the evolution of my thinking about literature’s impact on human behavior.

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Who Determines What a Work Means?

I share a copy of a talk I gave on how literary interpretations are decided, focusing on theorists Stanley Fish and Hans Robert Jauss.

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Fantasy Lit Changes How We Behave

A fascinating conference essay on “The Fantasy Reader: An Empirical Sociological Approach” looked at the different ways that fantasy literature can tangibly impact our lives.

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The Centrality of Fiction to Our Lives

Jonathan Gottschall’s “How Stories Make Us Human” is an enlightening book with some limitations.

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Why I Blog

Why I blog.

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A Lit Theory that Affirms Readers

The students in my “Theories of the Reader ” course found the theorists we read affirming.

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Books as Friends, Good but also Bad

Theorist Wayne Booth compares the impact that books have on us to that of friends. Some friends have a good influence, some not.

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The Reader’s Role in Literature

Reader Response Theory focuses on the reader’s involvement in literature, opening up avenues untouched by formalist criticism.

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