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The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett

01 Jan 1974-
TL;DR: Iser as mentioned in this paper analyzed major works of English fiction ranging from Bunyan, Fielding, Scott, and Thackeray to Joyce and Beckett, and provided a framework for a theory of such literary effects and aesthetic responses.
Abstract: Like no other art form, the novel confronts its readers with circumstances arising from their own environment of social and historical norms and stimulates them to assess and criticize their surroundings. By analyzing major works of English fiction ranging from Bunyan, Fielding, Scott, and Thackeray to Joyce and Beckett, renowned critic Wolfgang Iser here provides a framework for a theory of such literary effects and aesthetic responses. Iser's focus is on the theme of discovery, whereby the reader is given the chance to recognize the deficiencies of his own existence and the suggested solutions to counterbalance them. The content and form of this discovery is the calculated response of the reader -- the implied reader. In discovering the expectations and presuppositions that underlie all his perceptions, the reader learns to "read" himself as he does the text.
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Dissertation
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: Margolis et al. as discussed by the authors explored the specific cross section of two fields of study: fan culture and event film adaptation, and put forward evidence of the shifting relationship between filmmakers and fans of a popular adapted work, and present new modes of engagement for the fans to the adaptation process facilitated by the Internet.
Abstract: The Incorporation of the Fan, and Fan Culture in Event Film Adaptations This thesis explores the specific cross section of two fields of study: fan culture, and ‘event film’ adaptation (Margolis, 2009). Here, I put forward evidence of the shifting relationship between filmmakers and fans of a popular adapted work, and present new modes of engagement for the fans to the adaptation process facilitated by the Internet. This is an investigation of the pertinent research in the fields of adaptation studies (Naremore, 2000; Stam, 2005; Hutcheon 2006), and fan studies (Jenkins, 1992; Bacon-Smith, 1992; Jancovich, 2003; Booth, 2010) in the digital age. I also present my own practical, ethnographic research from film sets, working with a production company and a film funding body, The Film Agency of Wales, interviews, and fan events for analysis of practical application to provide evidence of the dialectical shift in the fan and filmmaker relationship due in large part to the Internet. 1 Fans now have unprecedented access to the filmmaking process due to digital media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and the various fan sites and discussion boards that provide immediate information dispersal. The information-sharing abilities and marketing power of fans as well as their immediacy in organizing events and movements can be harnessed and utilized in the adaptation process of the event film. This is affecting filmmaking processes, as many are beginning to incorporate new practices for fan management into their procedures. This study uses existing research, as well as new, ethnographic investigation from the set of Twilight (2008), multiple fan-focused Twilight events, and from industry creators in games, merchandise, literature, and film from additional event film adaptations. Through these events and resources, this thesis examines relevant research on participatory communities, fan culture, and fan management, to argue the new and developing modes of fan interaction and fan influence on event film adaptation. This thesis concludes that the dialectical relationship between the fan and the filmmaker has shifted, as evidenced in the production of the event film, Twilight, due to the immediacy of information dispersal on the Internet, and the participatory fan culture. Fans can be highly organized, and may have extensive influence on an event film adaptation. Therefore, filmmakers are adapting their practices to consider and incorporate the fans in the process, to present actual or implied efforts for fidelity, and to illustrate their efforts on digital platforms to support and inform the fan base of an event film. 1 This thesis has been reviewed by a departmental ethics officer, and has met Bangor University’s ethical guidelines. A description of these processes appears on pages 116-121.

10 citations


Cites background from "The Implied Reader: Patterns of Com..."

  • ...Wolfgang Iser (1974) provides analysis of these gaps, and discusses how the reader decides to fill them; this element of creative interpretation from the audience member allows for multiple readings of the same text (p.280)....

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Dissertation
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, a cross-disciplinary approach to the concept of interiority is presented, taking as starting-points theories inspired by phenomenology, the cognitive sciences, semiotics of emotion, methods of analysis of the discourse of the novel, as well as specific contributions philosophical, psychological and psychoanalytical.
Abstract: This study is based on a cross disciplinary approach to the concept of interiority, taking as starting-points theories inspired by phenomenology, the cognitive sciences, semiotics of emotion, methods of analysis of the discourse of the novel, as well as specific contributions philosophical, psychological and psychoanalytical. This study aiming at defining the phenomenon of interiority, analyzes its components and its various definitions through philosophy, the history of its slow development and of its incarnation in the novel. By using ten novels from the Western culture (Dostoyevsky, Notes from the Underground ; Sabato, The Tunnel ; Berent, Prochno ; Svevo, Zeno's Conscience ; Ducharme, The Swallower swallowed ; Kafka, The Trial ; Sartre, Nausea ; Joyce Ulysses ; Sarraute, The Planetarium ; and Beckett, The Unnameable), this study outlines the characteristics of its representation and the precise conditions of its course of development, and establishes the character of its metamorphoses.

10 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: The authors found that the processing of literary narratives must be mediated by the fragmentary and distorted memory of real readers, and that the reader constructs elaborate and personally meaningful representations of the story world.
Abstract: An implicit supposition in literary studies is that ideal readers have unconstrained access to the text. However, we argue instead that the processing of literary narrative must be mediated by the fragmentary and distorted memory of real readers. In the present chapter, we focus on an important determinant of memory: the variation in readers’ mental states during reading. In particular, we identify two prevalent fluctuations that have critical implications for memory and literary appreciation: mind wandering, in which the reader momentarily gives relatively little priority to processing the text; and engagement, in which the reader constructs elaborate and personally meaningful representations of the story world. We describe how the variation in these mental states over the course of reading affects reading processes and determines memory for both text and aesthetic reactions. This analysis is supported by the results of two experiments in which readers’ mental states were probed online during reading.

10 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, interior monologues from the Third Gospel of Luke are analyzed in the context of early Christian witness, focusing on what one says to one's soul or in one's heart.
Abstract: A constant refrain in contemporary NT studies is that ancient people were "anti-introspective." I contend that this view has caused us to overlook a significant aspect of the early Christian witness, namely, the importance of what one says to one's soul. Several times in Luke's Gospel, characters' thoughts are revealed through the literary device of interior monologue, yet these inner speeches remain underexplored. In this article, I begin by describing the view that ancient societies eschewed interiority; the subsequent section discusses interior speech in Hellenistic and ancient Jewish literature. I then read six Lukan interior monologues from the parables in light of these comparanda. As in ancient Hellenistic narratives, Luke's interior monologues depict the thinker's inner turmoil in a crisis moment; they also provide narrative articulations of Jewish warnings against foolish self-talk. Rhetorically, the interior monologues in the first four parables foster readerly identification with the thinker; readers who accept this invitation will experience the corrections implied by the narrative rhetoric. In the latter two parables, however, narratorial guidance indicates that the audience is not meant to identify with the thinking characters. In these cases, inner speech introduces dramatic irony, privileging the reader over the thinker. Overall, I aim to show that Luke's interior monologues challenge the dominant paradigm of the "anti-introspective" Mediterranean self. Our focus should be on the kinds, degrees, and functions of interiority and introspection in ancient texts, rather than on a generic portrait of ancient societies as "anti-introspective."(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)In an article titled, "The Soul's Comeback: Immortality and Resurrection in Early Christianity" (2010), Francois Bovon pushes back against a current trend in studies of early Christianity: the tendency to emphasize the external, corporeal aspect of the ancient self-the "body" (...)-at the expense of the inner, immaterial dimension of the ancient self-the "soul" (...).1 Bovon implores scholars to avoid letting the pendulum swing too far to either side of the psyche/soma divide, lest we miss a crucial component of the early Christian witness.2 The scope of this article is more modest than Bovon's,3 but it similarly pushes back against a current consensus in which the scholarly pendulum has again swung too far toward an unhelpful extreme: in this case, not between the poles of "soul" and "body" but between the poles of so-called introspective individualistic societies and antiintrospective collectivistic societies.4A constant refrain in contemporary NT studies is that ancient people lacked a concept of the interior life; they were "anti-introspective."5 I contend that this view has caused us to overlook a significant aspect of the early Christian witness, namely, the importance of what one says to one's soul or in one's heart.6 The Third Gospel in particular demonstrates interest in an individual's inner life, in four respects:1. In the importance of "paying attention" (...) to "how" (...) one "hears" (...) God's word (8:18).7 For Luke, this "'hearing' is ... an inner, consensual attitude."82. In Jesus' attention to what is on the "inside" (..., 11:40). Contrary to Bruce Malina's assertion that "what counted [in ancient society] was what went on the outside of a person,"9 Jesus teaches that those who focus on the outside alone are "fools" (..., 11:39-40),10 and that good and evil come from the heart (..., 6:45).3. In the fulfillment of Simeon's early prophecy that, as a result of Jesus, "the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed" ( ..., 2:35). Due to the "primacy effect," Luke's implied reader11 is prompted to expect the "thoughts" of people's "hearts" to play a role in the ensuing narrative.124. Ιn the emphasis on aligning what one says internally with the divine perspective (as expressed by the Lukan narrator). …

10 citations