Reader Response in the Classroom: Evoking and Interpreting Meaning in Literature

This textbook, intended for secondary English methods courses, introduces students to the theory and practice of reader response. It is based on the transactional model of literature asserted by Louise M. Rosenblatt. Soundly expressive of each aspect of response-centered critical theory, it is pedagogically the most meaningful for teachers. As detailed within this text, her approach insists on the reader's role in conjunction with the text, the reader's individuality affecting and being affected by the text. In contrast, other theoretical positions give prominence to the reader or to the text. However, this volume is not specifically concerned with close scrutiny of these variations and emphases. Rather, it focuses on the application of the transactional theory of literature, activating it in the classroom, and expressing theory as background.