Teaching literary theory is fascinating for those who love the application of theory to a literary text, difficult for those who are of the opinion that theory destroys the actual beauty and value of the fictional source, and unfortunately often boring for those who are taught. This article, however, provides a popular approach to the introduction…

Examines the relationship between current concepts of reading processes and contemporary theories of literary response. Argues that text-based reading theories are isomorphic with the New Criticism, and that reader-based theories of reading are isomorphic with reader-response criticism. Maintains that literary theory ignores interactive…

Relates the author's own experience of reading "Morning Girl," by Michael Dorris, as an example of practicing literary criticism. Provides an in-depth analysis of "Morning Girl" and how it could be interpreted and discussed through Langer's model of envisionment building. Illuminates Langer's theory so that it may be applied to…

This essay explores the concept of reader stance as defined by L. Rosenblatt (1978, 1994) as a useful framework from which to view the relative imbalance between the efferent and aesthetic reading of literature, particularly among schoolage adolescents. It then examines how 4 theoretical models and perspectives offer considerable explanatory…

To honor the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Louise M. Rosenblatt's book "Literature as Exploration," this book offers 12 essays that demonstrate the extraordinary influence of Rosenblatt's work on the teaching of literature, on literary theory, and on educational research in all English-speaking countries. Further, it evinces…

The proliferation of critics and critical approaches has produced a trend toward fragmentation and isolation among the practitioners involved. A suggestive counter-trend indicates that there is intense curiosity among critics to watch colleagues encounter texts, grapple with the preliminary questions of stance and method, and share the experience…

A literary communication model cannot adjudicate the conflicting claims of transformation and enculturation: that literature is intrinsically educational, that it conduces to psychic growth as a process, irrespective of subject matter and free from the dangers of indoctrination, but that the imperative to make it instrumental to political ends…

Offers a psychoanalytically based reading of Conrad's "The Secret Sharer" and points out the similarities between analysis of a text and analysis of a patient in a psychoanalysis session. (JC)

This book offers teachers a convenient means of broadening their understanding of reader response theory and criticism and applying this theory to the teaching of literature in high school and college classrooms. The book is designed to arouse individual teachers' interest in reader response theory and encourage them to apply it to their teaching.…

Focusing on the notion that the author supplies the words in a text while the reader supplies the meaning, this issue contains essays that combine literary theories with classroom practices. Following an introduction by R. E. Fitch, articles include "Teaching a Western: Jack Schaefer's 'Shane'" (J. R. Ruff); "Pragmatic Criticism in…

This volume presents the 53rd Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (NRC). The papers in this Yearbook reflect NRC's practice of pursuing not only traditionally important topics in literacy but also many issues that may not be deemed worthy of funding and government attention. Rather than a narrowing of the field, the submitted manuscripts,…