LITERARY SPHERE

Reader Response Theory Reader Response Theory is a way of reading literature that focuses on the reader’s role in making meaning. It says that texts are not complete until someone reads them and brings their own ideas, feelings, and experiences to them. This theory became popular in the 1960s–1970s, mainly as a reaction against New Criticism , which believed meaning was only in the text itself. Key Concepts Meaning is made when the reader reads the text. It’s not fixed in the text alone. Each reader brings personal background, culture, and emotions to the reading experience. Different readers may have different interpretations of the same text. Louise Rosenblatt introduced: Efferent reading – reading for facts or information. Aesthetic reading – reading for enjoyment and experience. Wolfgang Iser introduced the idea of the implied reader —an imagined reader suggested by the ...

Here’s a detailed summary of Cleanth Brooks’s essay "The Formalist Critics" from  Literary Theory: An Anthology (Third Edition), edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan.   In his essay The Formalist Critics , Cleanth Brooks lays out and defends the critical principles of what came to be known as the New Criticism. This school of thought became the dominant mode of literary study in American universities from the 1940s through the late 1960s. Brooks, influenced by I. A. Richards and his own extensive critical practice, uses this piece to address common misunderstandings and objections to the formalist method, rather than merely restating its basic principles. At the outset, Brooks affirms some key articles of faith to which he subscribes. First, he claims that literary criticism is primarily a description and evaluation of its object — the literary work itself. Criticism, in his view, should be centrally concerned with the unity of a work: the manner in which its ...

Unique and Important multiple-choice questions on Literary Theory Here are Unique and Important multiple-choice questions on Literary Theory:  1. Who is considered the founder of structuralism?    a) Jacques Lacan    b) Roland Barthes    c) Ferdinand de Saussure    d) Jacques Derrida    Answer: c) Ferdinand de Saussure 2. Which literary theorist is known for his concept of the "death of the author"?    a) Michel Foucault    b) Roland Barthes    c) Jacques Derrida    d) Julia Kristeva    Answer: b) Roland Barthes 3. Which literary theory focuses on the role of power dynamics in literature and society?    a) Feminist theory    b) Marxist theory    c) Postcolonial theory    d) Queer theory    Answer: b) Marxist theory 4. Who coined the term "intertextuality" to describe the relationship between texts?    a) Julia ...