Book•
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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TL;DR: Peters, a self-consciously orthodox High Churchman, later entered the lists against both Bishop Warburton and Lord Bolingbroke in the "Job Controversy".
Abstract: This essay presents newly-discovered evidence for the reading of Charles Peters, minister of St Mabyn in Cornwall. It reveals how an early encounter with Thomas Blackwell's Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer (1735) stimulated Peters, a self-consciously orthodox High Churchman, to develop a private critique of the emerging Enlightenment discourse of natural religion. This episode sheds new light on the cultural preoccupations of England's parish clergy, as well as upon the significance of misinterpretation and misunderstanding in the social history of ideas. It also provides an illuminating additional context for the "Job Controversy", in which Peters, utilizing similar arguments to those he had first deployed against Blackwell, later entered the lists against both Bishop Warburton and Lord Bolingbroke.
8 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the reader is not a mere consumer but rather a free interpreter of text; the printed matter is subject to a variety of interpretations, and intertextuality and deconstruction are at play since the content is a series of markings and language is as an open system of signifiers that undermines the authority of words.
Abstract: The accelerating pace of globalization, the buzzword since 1990, is the cause of numerous socio-cultural complexities. Owing to globalization, literary texts have assumed a vital role to students’ communicative and critical awareness of the world around them. Globalization shares with postmodernism themes such as plurality and loss of identity in mediatic societies. Narratives are a motivational tool to not only achieve comprehension, but also experience the writers’ concern with contemporary issues. In the past, New Criticism boldly concluded that an objective analysis of text is feasible; however, the Reader Response theory advocated that readers interpret texts in relation to their own lives. Nonetheless, there are instances when a resistance to literary works occurs, particularly when conflicting cultural codes exist. Alienation— even self-effacement—could materialize consequent to attempting to create homogeneity and global solidarity. To postmodernists, meaning is no longer inherent in the text; the reader is involved in a quest to elucidate the textual material. In other words, intertextuality and deconstruction are at play since the content is a series of markings, and language is as an open system of signifiers that undermines the authority of words. With postmodernism, the reader is not a mere consumer but rather a ‘free’ interpreter of text; the printed matter is subject to a variety of interpretations. The effect of globalization on one’s identity is crucial to educated minds seeking enlightenment. In schools and universities, instructors ought to employ postmodern narratives in their language classes to suggest alternatives and pose queries concerning globalism.
8 citations
Cites background from "The Implied Reader: Patterns of Com..."
...Iser (1974) believes that, there is a relationship between text and reader: ‘one must take into account not only the actual text but also, and in equal measure, the actions involved in responding to that text” (p. 274)....
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TL;DR: In the past fifteen years or so, sociologists have tried in various ways to make sense of ethnomethodology as mentioned in this paper, comparing it with symbolic interactionism, others with labeling theory.
Abstract: During the past fifteen years or so, sociologists have tried in various ways to make sense of ethnomethodology. Some (Dreitzel, 1970:vii-viii; Johnson, 1981:293; Collins, 1975:30) compare it with symbolic interactionism, others (Leiter, 1980:185) with labeling theory. More commonly, sociologists look to phenomenology for access to ethnomethodology (Dallmayr and McCarthy, 1977:10; Heap and Roth,1978:288; Mayrl, 1977; Morris, 1977; O'Neill, 1972:212). Though common, that approach has sparked debate: Some analysts (Spurling, 1977:72; Zimmerman, 1979: 383) deny a close correspondence between phenomenology and ethnomethodology. Other commentators claim that ethnomethodology is unintelligible to "outsiders." Lewis Coser (1975), who criticizes its cultlike character, exemplifies that stance. Jonathan
8 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2014
8 citations
Cites background from "The Implied Reader: Patterns of Com..."
...She borrows the terms characterized fictive reader and implied reader from Iser (1974)....
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Dissertation•
29 Jan 2015
TL;DR: For instance, this paper examined the style, structure, and content of Buchan's articles and reviews, and argued that Buchan should be considered as an essayist of elegance and authority, an astute literary critic attuned to contemporary trends, and a wide-ranging cultural commentator on his times.
Abstract: John Buchan (1875-1940) has a literary reputation as a minor novelist, based mainly on his success as a popular fiction writer, the inventor of the spy thriller in his best-known novel, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915). Although there has been considerably increased scholarly interest in his work in recent years, the perception that he is mainly a genre writer persists and has limited the success of attempts to move his literary reputation towards the academic mainstream. Other areas of his writing have received some recognition, but his uncollected journalism has remained a neglected aspect of his work, largely overlooked even by Buchan specialists.
This thesis brings an academic focus to Buchan's uncollected journalism for the first time. It breaks new ground by examining the style, structure, and content of his articles and reviews, and argues that Buchan should be considered as an essayist of elegance and authority, an astute literary critic attuned to contemporary trends, and a wide-ranging cultural commentator on his times.
The thesis shows that Buchan's uncollected journalism, in its volume and range, provides a major field for the additional research which is clearly required if Buchan's literary reputation is to be further enhanced. It aims to make a significant contribution by opening up this area of his work to future study in two entirely new ways. First, it contains an extensive catalogue of his uncollected journalism, over a thousand items in total, with each article categorised and summarised as an aid to future researchers, features which have never before been available. The catalogue also contains a hundred articles and reviews which have not been included in any previous bibliography. Secondly, it provides a selection of annotated articles which could form the basis of the first critical edition of Buchan's essays to be issued in order to promote further recognition of this aspect of his writing.
8 citations