Lois Tyson - Critical Theory Today_ A User-Friendly Guide-Routledge (2006) by jacdeep

Lois Tyson - Critical Theory Today_ A User-Friendly Guide-Routledge (2006)

Reader‑response criticism

171

There were front and back doors and a side door which led to the garage, which was empty except for three parked 10-speed bikes. They went in the side door, Mark explaining that it was always open in case his younger sisters got home earlier than their mother. Pete wanted to see the house so Mark started with the living room. It, like the rest of the downstairs, was newly painted. Mark turned on the stereo, the noise of which worried Pete. “Don’t worry, the nearest house is a quarter of a mile away,” Mark shouted. Pete felt more comfortable observing that no houses could be seen in any direction beyond the huge yard. The dining room, with all the china, silver, and cut glass, was no place to play so the boys moved into the kitchen, where they made sandwiches. Mark said they wouldn’t go to the basement because it had been damp and musty ever since the new plumbing had been installed. “This is where my Dad keeps his famous paintings and his coin collection,” Mark said as they peered into the den. Mark bragged that he could get spending money whenever he needed it since he’d discovered that his Dad kept a lot in the desk drawer. There were three upstairs bedrooms. Mark showed Pete his mother’s closet, which was filled with furs and the locked box which held her jewels. His sisters’ room was uninteresting except for the color TV, which Mark carried to his room. Mark bragged that the bathroom in the hall was his since one had been added to his sisters’ room for their use. The big highlight in his room, though, was a leak in the ceiling where the old roof had finally rotted.

Many readers probably would produce a list of positive and negative qualities something like the following: Positive qualities

Negative qualities

tall hedges (privacy) finely landscaped yard stone siding fireplace garage newly painted downstairs nearest house 1/4 mi. away (privacy) den 3 upstairs bedrooms new bathroom added to bedroom

damp, musty basement new plumbing amiss rotting roof leak in bedroom ceiling

Now reread the passage and underline any detail, positive or negative, that you think would be important if you were casing the house in order to rob it. Many readers probably would produce a list of positive and negative qualities some‑ thing like the following:

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Lois Tyson - Critical Theory Today_ A User-Friendly Guide-Routledge (2006)

Articles inside

Index

For advanced readers

13 Gaining an overview

For further reading

The colony within: a postcolonial reading of The Great Gatsby Questions for further practice: postcolonial approaches to other

literary works

Some questions postcolonial critics ask about literary texts

Postcolonial criticism and literature

Postcolonial debates

Postcolonial identity

12 Postcolonial criticism

Questions for further practice: African American approaches to other literary works

The Great Gatsby

African American criticism and literature

Some questions African American critics ask about literary texts But where’s Harlem?: an African American reading of

Recent developments: critical race theory

Racial issues and African American literary history

Questions for further practice: lesbian, gay, and queer approaches to other literary works

11 African American criticism

of The Great Gatsby

texts

Some shared features of lesbian, gay, and queer criticism Some questions lesbian, gay, and queer critics ask about literary

Queer criticism

Gay criticism

10 Lesbian, gay, and queer criticism

Lesbian criticism

The marginalization of lesbians and gay men

For advanced readers

of The Great Gatsby

For further reading

Questions for further practice: new historical and cultural criticism of other literary works

Some questions new historical and cultural critics ask about literary texts The discourse of the self‑made man: a new historical reading

Cultural criticism and literature

New historicism and literature

New historicism

Cultural criticism

9 New historical and cultural criticism

Questions for further practice: deconstructive approaches to other literary works

a deconstructive reading of The Great Gatsby

Some questions deconstructive critics ask about literary texts “. . . the thrilling, returning trains of my youth . . .”:

A deconstructive reading of Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”

Deconstructing literature

Deconstructing human identity

8 Deconstructive criticism

Deconstructing language

Deconstructing our world

For advanced readers

For further reading

Questions for further practice: structuralist approaches to other literary works

of The Great Gatsby

Some questions structuralist critics ask about literary texts “Seek and ye shall find”. . . and then lose: a structuralist reading

The structure of narrative (narratology

The structure of literary interpretation

The structure of literary genres

Structuralism and literature

Semiotics

Structural anthropology

7 Structuralist criticism

Structural linguistics

For advanced readers

For further reading

to other literary works

Projecting the reader: a reader‑response analysis of The Great Gatsby Questions for further practice: reader‑response approaches

Some questions reader‑response critics ask about literary texts

Defining readers

Social reader‑response theory

Psychological reader‑response theory

Affective stylistics

Subjective reader‑response theory

Transactional reader‑response theory

6 Reader‑response criticism

For advanced readers

The single best interpretation

New Criticism as intrinsic, objective criticism

A New Critical reading of “There Is a Girl Inside”

Literary language and organic unity

“The text itself”

reading of The Great Gatsby