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
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