rNr.w ( i r i t i r : ism (See Ohapter 3, pagc l t3 )Arrui l t l r l ions

I I lrc r r ilir's interest ultimately should bc lircused on the work itself (not the author'si r r I t ' r r I ion, n()r the reader 's rcsponse)

'.1 llrt'Jrrrrpose of this attention is to exp()se tlre work's unity; every elenrent shouldsul)l)()rt its uni$'ing theme.

ll I' lrt: work should also have some sort ol cornplexity; great literature unifies:rrnbigrr i t ies. i ronies. tensions

Sl rategiesl. Dctermine what oppositions or tcnsions or ambiguities are present.2 Read closely. You can assume that every aspect is carefully calculated to contribute to

the work's unity-figures of speech, point of vieq diction, recurrent ideas or events,everything

3 Say how the work is unified, how the various elernents work to uni$' it

Reader-Response Criticism (See Chaptcr 4, pagr: I'r5 )Assumptions

1. An author's intentions are not reliably availzrblc to readers; all they have is the text2. Out of the text, readers actively and personally make meaning.3. Responding to a text is a process, and descriptions of that process are valuable

Strategies1. Movethroughthetext insuperslowmotion,descr ib ingtheresponseofaninformed

reader at various points2. Or describe your own response moving througlr the text.3. React to the text as a whole, embracing and expressing the subjective and personal

response it engenders.

Deconstruction (See Chapter 5, page 9l )Assumptions

l. Meaning is made by binary oppositions, &ul one item is unavoidably favored (t,r"privileged") over the other

2. This hierarchy is arbitrary and can bc exposed and rt:verscd.3. Further, the text's oppositions and hierarchy can be called int