Answer to Question #248734 in English for PHUMZILE ZONDI

Question

Reader Response theory suggests that various influences can affect a reader’s interpretation of a text. In a short paragraph, explain this theory and explore why it would be useful to evaluate the extract using the Reader Response method. Suggest which aspects of the method could be applied. 

Answer 1

Reader-response theory recognizes the reader as an active agent who imparts "real existence" to the work and completes its meaning through interpretation. Reader-response criticism argues that literature should be viewed as a performing art in which each reader creates their own, possibly unique, text-related performance. The approach avoids subjectivity or essentialism in descriptions produced through its recognition that reading is determined by textual and also cultural constraints.