| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Period | 1960s-1980s (peak: 1970s) |
| Core Premise | Meaning = created by READER, not just in text Reading = active process, not passive reception Text incomplete without reader's participation |
| Reaction Against | New Criticism's "words on page" approach Affective Fallacy (Wimsatt & Beardsley) Ignoring reader's role in meaning-making |
| Key Figures | German: Wolfgang Iser, Hans Robert Jauss American: Stanley Fish, Norman Holland, David Bleich |
| Diversity | NOT unified school - various approaches to reader's role |
| MCQ Alert | Reader-Response (1960s-80s) - meaning created by reader, not just in text |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Implied Reader | NOT actual reader but textual construct Role/position text creates for reader Set of expectations, norms embedded in text Text guides/shapes reader's response Actual reader may accept or resist this role |
| Gaps (Blanks/Indeterminacy) | Texts contain GAPS reader must fill Gaps: Unstated connections, missing information Reader actively constructs meaning by filling gaps Different readers fill gaps differently Example: Character's motivation unstated - reader infers Gaps = sites of reader's creative participation |
| Wandering Viewpoint | Reading = temporal process Reader's "viewpoint" moves through text Constantly revising, adjusting interpretation Past + present textual moments = dynamic interaction Meaning emerges over time, not all at once |
| Repertoire | Text's stock of familiar norms, conventions Social/literary codes reader recognizes Text may confirm or challenge repertoire Reader negotiates between text and cultural knowledge |
| Key Terms | Implied Reader + Gaps/Blanks + Wandering Viewpoint |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Interpretive Communities | "Interpretation creates texts, not vice versa" Meaning = NOT in text OR reader alone Meaning = produced by INTERPRETIVE COMMUNITIES Community: Group sharing interpretive strategies • Academic literary critics = one community • Evangelical Christians reading Bible = another Different communities = different meanings from same text No "correct" reading - only community-sanctioned readings |
| Affective Stylistics (Early) | Fish's earlier approach (1970s) Meaning = reader's experience OVER TIME Sentence-by-sentence analysis of reading process "What does this sentence DO?" not "What does it MEAN?" Later abandoned for interpretive communities |
| No Objective Text | Text = NOT stable object with fixed properties Text = product of interpretive strategies "There is no text, only interpretations" Radical position: Nothing constrains interpretation except community norms |
| Professional Readers | Literary critics = professional interpretive community Share training, conventions, institutional norms Agreement = not because text determines meaning, but because shared interpretive strategies |
| Famous Claim | "Interpretive communities" produce meaning; text doesn't constrain interpretation |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Horizon of Expectations | Historical readers' expectations shape reception "Horizon" = framework of norms, conventions, experiences readers bring Text received differently in different historical periods Example: Madame Bovary scandalous in 1857, tame later Meaning changes as horizon changes |
| Aesthetic Distance | Gap between horizon of expectations and work itself Small distance: Work meets expectations (culinary art) Large distance: Work challenges expectations (high art) Great works initially rejected (large aesthetic distance) Over time, horizon adjusts - work becomes canonical |
| Historical Reception | Study how works received/interpreted across time Literary history = history of successive receptions NOT fixed meaning but changing interpretations Combines reader-response with historicism |
| Key Term | "Horizon of Expectations" - historical framework shaping reception |
| Critic | Approach | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Norman Holland | Psychoanalytic | Readers recreate text according to personal "identity theme" Reading = transactive process expressing reader's psychology |
| David Bleich | Subjective Criticism | Meaning = subjective, personal Classroom negotiation of meanings Emphasizes affective response |
| Michael Riffaterre | Semiotic | "Superreader" - competent reader who knows codes Text leads reader through "hermeneutic" process |
| Achievement | Limitation | |
|---|---|---|
| Reader's Role Recognized | Challenged New Critical dogma; reader matters | Too subjective; "anything goes"? |
| Reading Process | Analyzed how reading actually works (temporal, active) | Can't verify subjective experience |
| Interpretive Communities | Explained disagreements; social nature of interpretation | Relativism; no criteria for judging interpretations? |
| Pedagogy | Student-centered teaching; reader's response valued | What about bad readings? Anything acceptable? |
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Period | 1980s-1990s (emerged in USA) |
| Origins | Renaissance literary studies (Stephen Greenblatt) Influenced by Foucault, Geertz (anthropology) |
| Core Premise | Literary texts inseparable from historical context Literature = historical document (not transcendent) History = text (not objective background) "Texts and contexts mutually constitute each other" |
| vs. Old Historicism | Old: History = background; text reflects history New: Text = part of history; mutual interaction Old: History = facts, objective New: History = representation, constructed |
| Key Figures | Stephen Greenblatt, Louis Montrose, Jonathan Goldberg, Catherine Gallagher |
| MCQ Alert | New Historicism (1980s-90s) - texts and contexts mutually constitute; history as text |
| Source | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Michel Foucault | • Power/knowledge connection • Discourse produces reality • No "outside" to power • Genealogical method Key: Power everywhere, not just top-down |
| Clifford Geertz (Anthropology) | • "Thick description" - interpreting cultural symbols • Culture = text to be read • Interpretive anthropology Key: Cultural practices as symbolic systems |
| Raymond Williams | • Cultural materialism • "Structures of feeling" • Culture and society interconnected |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Self-Fashioning | "The fashioning of human identity as a manipulable, artful process" Renaissance = period when self became project Identity = constructed, not given Literary texts = sites of self-fashioning Example: Thomas More, Edmund Spenser fashion selves through writing |
| Power & Subversion | Texts both subversive AND contain subversion Power produces its own resistance (Foucault) No pure opposition - subversion recuperated by power "Subversion is contained": Apparent resistance serves power |
| Anecdote Method | Begin with striking anecdote from archives Juxtapose with canonical literary text Show unexpected connections Destabilize boundaries (literary/non-literary, central/marginal) Example: Start with execution account, link to Shakespeare |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Social Energy | How do texts acquire power/energy? "Social energy" = cultural force texts embody Circulates between text and social world Shakespeare "negotiates" with culture - takes/gives energy Theater = site of cultural exchange |
| Circulation | Meaning = not fixed in text Meaning circulates through culture Texts participate in larger networks of power Cultural exchange, not reflection |
| Technique | Description |
|---|---|
| Anecdotal Opening | Begin with surprising historical anecdote Often from non-literary archives Creates interpretive puzzle |
| Juxtaposition | Place literary text beside "marginal" historical text Medical treatise + Shakespeare Execution account + poem Show unexpected resonances |
| Thick Description | Detailed interpretation of cultural practices Analyze symbolic meanings From Geertz's anthropology |
| Erasure of Boundaries | Challenge literary/non-literary distinction High culture/low culture Central text/marginal document All texts equally historical |
| Simultaneous Reading | Text + context read together Neither privileged Mutual illumination |
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| "Historicity of Texts" | Literary texts = historical documents Shaped by historical moment Participate in history, not above it |
| "Textuality of History" | History = text/narrative, not transparent facts History mediated through representations No direct access to "real" past Historical documents = texts requiring interpretation |
| Combined Formula | "The historicity of texts and the textuality of history" Summarizes New Historicist position Reciprocal relationship between text and history |
| Famous Formula | "Historicity of texts + Textuality of history" = New Historicism's motto |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Power | Not just repressive (Foucault) Productive - creates identities, meanings Circulates through all relations No "outside" to power |
| Containment & Subversion | Apparent resistance contained by power Subversion = part of power's functioning Example: Carnival allows release but reinforces hierarchy |
| Cultural Poetics | Greenblatt's term for New Historicism Culture = text; poetics = analysis Reading culture's symbolic systems |
| Negotiation | Texts don't reflect but NEGOTIATE with culture Give-and-take, exchange Dynamic interaction, not passive reflection |
| New Historicism (USA) | Cultural Materialism (UK) |
|---|---|
| Focus: Renaissance | Focus: Renaissance + modern |
| Influenced by Foucault | Influenced by Raymond Williams, Marx |
| Power circulates; containment | Resistance possible; politically committed |
| Apolitical stance (claimed) | Explicitly political; left-wing |
| Greenblatt, Montrose | Jonathan Dollimore, Alan Sinfield |
| Subversion contained by power | Real dissent and resistance possible |
| Achievement | Critique | |
|---|---|---|
| Historicized Literature | Returned history to literary study after New Criticism | History as anecdotal, not systematic |
| Expanded Canon | Non-literary texts = legitimate objects of study | Blurs distinction - what isn't "text"? |
| Foucauldian Insights | Power/knowledge; discourse; cultural construction | Too totalizing - power everywhere, no escape |
| Thick Description | Rich cultural analysis; symbolic interpretation | Cherry-picking evidence; not rigorous history |
| Interdisciplinary | Bridged literature, history, anthropology | Neither good literature study nor good history? |
| Decline | 1990s-2000s: Critiqued for political quietism; replaced by cultural studies, presentism |
| Aspect | Reader-Response | New Historicism |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | READER's role in creating meaning | HISTORICAL CONTEXT's role |
| Key Question | "How does reader produce meaning?" | "How do texts participate in history?" |
| Meaning Located | In reader-text interaction | In text-context interaction |
| Time Frame | Present reading experience | Historical moment of production/reception |
| Method | Phenomenological, psychological Analyze reading process | Archival, anecdotal Juxtapose texts and contexts |
| Reaction Against | New Criticism (text-only) | Formalism + transcendent literary value |
| Political Stance | Generally apolitical Focus on interpretation | Politics implicit (Foucault) Power relations central |
| Period | 1960s-1980s | 1980s-1990s |
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Reader-Response period | 1960s-1980s (peak 1970s) |
| Wolfgang Iser's key concept | Implied Reader + Gaps (blanks/indeterminacy) reader fills |
| Stanley Fish's key concept | "Interpretive communities" produce meaning; text doesn't constrain |
| Hans Robert Jauss's key term | "Horizon of Expectations" - historical framework shaping reception |
| Aesthetic distance | Jauss - gap between expectations and work; large distance = high art |
| New Historicism period | 1980s-1990s (USA) |
| New Historicism founder | Stephen Greenblatt |
| Self-Fashioning | Greenblatt (1980) - identity as artful, manipulable process |
| Social Energy | Greenblatt - cultural force texts embody; circulates |
| Montrose's formula | "Historicity of texts and textuality of history" |
| Anecdote method | New Historicism - begin with striking historical anecdote, juxtapose with literary text |
| Thick description | From Geertz - detailed interpretation of cultural symbols |
| Containment & Subversion | Greenblatt - subversion contained by power; no pure opposition |
| Cultural Materialism | UK version - Dollimore, Sinfield; more politically committed than New Historicism |
| New Historicism influenced by | Foucault (power/discourse) + Geertz (thick description) |