A Brief History of Literary Theo
5/25/2010
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LITERARY THEO…
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF LITERARY THEORY III
By Chris Lang
The Reader-Response Theory of Stanley Fish
He drew a circle that shut me out-Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout: But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in! Edwin Markham At this point I would like to take a closer look at Stanley Fish's reader-response theory. It is my intent first to examine Fish's literary theory before criticizing it and then tie it in more broadly with the privatization of meaning and other phenomena occurring in philosophy and society which I will argue are historically conditioned. In other words, Fish's thesis is influenced by existential notions of truth and the rise of modernism/post-modernism. There are really two kinds of reader-response criticism: one is a phenomenological approach to reading which characterizes much of Fish's earlier work, and the other is an epistemological theory characteristic of Fish's later work. The phenomenological method has much to commend itself to us as it focuses on what happens in the reader's mind as he or she reads. Fish applies this method in his early work "Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost." His thesis in this work is that Milton used a number of literary techniques intentionally to lead the reader into a false sense of security whereupon he would effect a turn from the reader's expectations in order to surprise the reader with his own prideful self-sufficiency. The supposed intent of Milton was to force the reader to see his own sinfulness in a new light and be forced back to God's grace. Fish's thesis is a rather ingenious approach to Paradise Lost and to Milton's (mis)leading of the reader.Footnote28 Fish's concern at this point in his career is with what "is really happening in
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LITERARY THEO…
Search
About Xenos Xenos Books Home Groups Bible Teachings Online Journal Adult Classes
What's New? Books & Essays
Online Store Ministries Donate
Outlines & Charts
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LITERARY THEORY III
By Chris Lang
The Reader-Response Theory of Stanley Fish
He drew a circle that shut me out-Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout: But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in! Edwin Markham At this point I would like to take a closer look at Stanley Fish's reader-response theory. It is my intent first to examine Fish's literary theory before criticizing it and then tie it in more broadly with the privatization of meaning and other phenomena occurring in philosophy and society which I will argue are historically conditioned. In other words, Fish's thesis is influenced by existential notions of truth and the rise of modernism/post-modernism. There are really two kinds of reader-response criticism: one is a phenomenological approach to reading which characterizes much of Fish's earlier work, and the other is an epistemological theory characteristic of Fish's later work. The phenomenological method has much to commend itself to us as it focuses on what happens in the reader's mind as he or she reads. Fish applies this method in his early work "Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost." His thesis in this work is that Milton used a number of literary techniques intentionally to lead the reader into a false sense of security whereupon he would effect a turn from the reader's expectations in order to surprise the reader with his own prideful self-sufficiency. The supposed intent of Milton was to force the reader to see his own sinfulness in a new light and be forced back to God's grace. Fish's thesis is a rather ingenious approach to Paradise Lost and to Milton's (mis)leading of the reader.Footnote28 Fish's concern at this point in his career is with what "is really happening in