Modern Criticism and Theory
A reader
edited by David Lodge
p. in the US by Longman New York
1988
0-582-49460-5
11 Wolfgang Iser p211
b. 1926, 'reception theory'\
phenomenological criticism, Iser is less mystical and more scientific
intermediacy - the way in which 'gaps' or 'blanks' in literary texts stimulate the reader to construct meanings which would not otherwise come into existence." p211
The reading process: a phenomenological approach p212
I
"The phenomenological theory of art lays full stress on the idea that, in considering a literary work, one must take into account not only the actual text but also, and in equal measure, the actions involved in responding to that text." p212
need both
"The work is more than the text, for the text only takes on life when it is realised..." p212
"The convergence of text and reader brings the literary work into existence, and this convergence can never be precisely pinpointed, but must always remain virtual, as it is not to be identified either with the reality of the text or with the individual disposition of the reader." p212
"If the reader were given the whole story, and there were nothing left for him to do, then his imagination would never enter the field, the result would be the boredom which inevitably arises when everything is laid out cut and dried before us." p213
must engage the reader
II
How to describe this process
Phenomenological analysis recommends itself
worthwhile psychological observations
needs the reader's imagination p214
creates expectations p214
"expectations are scarcely ever fulfilled in truly literary texts. p215
"Thus, the reader, in establishing these interrelations between past, present and future, actually causes the text to reveal its potential multiplicity of connections. These connections are the product of the reader's mind working on the raw material of the text, though they are not the text itself - for this consists just of sentences, statements, information, etc." p215
reader experiences reflect readers own disposition
"Thus we have the apparently paradoxical situation in which the reader is forced to reveal aspects of himself in order to experience a reality which is different from his own." p217-218
III
"impressions that arise as a result of this process will vary from individual to individual but only within the limits imposed by the written as opposed to the unwritten text. In the same way, two people gazing at the night sky may both be looking at the same collection of stars, but one will see the image of a plough, and the other will make out a dipper. The 'stars' in a literary text are fixed; the lines that join them are variable." p218
WONDERFUL quote to use!!!
imagination isn't as much about what characters look like etc... however, still imagine past present/narrative etc
IV
gestalt
already discussed anticipation + retrospection
must add grouping
" 'In the reading of images, as in the hearing of speech, it is always hard to distinguish what is given to us from what we supplement in the process of projection which is triggered off by recognition... 12' " p219
V
three important aspects - reader and text
-the process of anticipation and retrospection
-consequence unfolding of the text as a living event
-resultant impression of lifelikeness
identification, with something outside of ourselves
"Herein lies the dialectical structure of reading. The need to decipher gives us the chance to formulate out own deciphering capacity - i.e., we bring to the fore an element of our being of which we are not directly conscious.....
These are the ways in which reading literature gives us the chance to formulate the unformulated." p227
Helpful Summary:
http://essaycemetery.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-reading-process-phenomenological.html
Phenomenology,
in Husserl's conception, is primarily concerned with the systematic
reflection on and analysis of the structures of consciousness, and the phenomena which appear in acts of consciousness
Such
reflection was to take place from a highly modified "first person"
viewpoint, studying phenomena not as they appear to "my" consciousness,
but to any consciousness whatsoever. Husserl believed that phenomenology
could thus provide a firm basis for all human knowledge, including scientific knowledge, and could establish philosophy as a "rigorous science" of measurable perception.
I – The work of literature is text
and the reader's response
According to phenomenology, when
considering a literary work one must examine not only the text but the response
it evokes in the reader. A text has the artistic pole, which is the text as created
by the author, and the aesthetic pole- the text as realized, or responded to,
by the reader. The literary work then is more than just the text- it is
something abstract that is between the text and the readers' response to it.
A work of literature is thus inherently
dynamic. It changes depending on the reader. The text allows the reader to imagine
for himself some of the components of the narrative. This is important in
holding the attention of the reader.
problem then
II – The text changes during reading
as the reader modifies his expectations of it
A text is comprised of sentences. These
serve to create the world within a work of fiction. All sentences offer
ambiguity, or fluidity, a meaning beyond the obvious literal one and it is
through these that the reader may become an active participant in the reading
process. It is through these lenient sentences that the content of the text
comes across. The sentences serve as foreshadowers of future events to the
reader. The reader thus actively predicts what is to come, modifying his
expectations as he encounters new sentences. These sentences also have retrospective
importance to the reader (he modifies his views of prior events based on new
ones). A text in which the reader is easily able to predict the plot (where the
reader doesn't modify his expectations) is considered inferior. It becomes
boring.
The same text creates different worlds
for different readers. It engages the imagination and creativity of the reader.
This attribute is the virtual ability of the text- the "coming together of
text and imagination". Virtuality is created by anticipation and
retrospect on the readers' part.
Perhaps another problem - add these problems at the end of the chapter to be solved by the next chapter!
When consecutive sentences easily thread
together the reading is fluid. But when a sentence doesn't make sense in the
context of the previous one the reader is forced to stop and consider it, and
make sense of it for the fluid reading to continue. This blockage of sense in a
story, this interruption of flow is an opportunity for the reader to be active,
and make sense of the sentence by "filling in the gaps left by the text
itself". No one reading will ever fulfill the potential of a text because
of the variability in different readers' reactions to the same text. This is
true also to the same reader reading a text twice. This difference in reactions
is attributed to the changes that occur in the reader over time- but the text
must inherently allow for such difference.
The inherent interactivity of a text and
the difference between readings demands that the reader contribute from his own
experience to the reading of the text. Paradoxically, he must contribute from
his own experience in order to comprehend a reality different from his (that of
the story).
III – The reader writes part of the
story in his head
The author sets guidelines for the
reader but the reader fills in the blanks with his imagination. By definition,
one can only imagine things that are not there. The reader may imagine a set of
possibilities as opposed to one particular thing. A literary work is thus the
sum of the text and the sum of the text that is not there (which enlists the
reader's imagination).
IV – The reader seeks unity in a text
A text offers much potential. The reader
must reconcile all the possibilities to get a clear unified sense of the text.
The reader compares different parts of the texts to gain achieve this consistency.
He does this through the illusions that the text creates. Again this unity is
not inherent in the text but lies somewhere between the text and the
consciousness of the reader. Here too there is modification of the illusion,
and throughout the reading the "gestalt" (sense of wholeness of the
text) changes- otherwise the reader loses interest.
V – The literary work induces change in
the reader
A literary text is effective when it
creates expectations rooted in familiarity and negates them in the text,
creating for the reader something unfamiliar. The reader is forced to modify
his preconceptions to keep up with the illusion that the text creates. This
induces a change in the reader.
The division between reader and writer
becomes blurred while reading a text, because the reader takes someone else's
ideas and immerses himself in them. The reader shuts out his own sense of self
and becomes someone he is not. "As we read, there occurs an artificial
division of our personality because we take as a theme for ourselves something
that we are not". There is the personality of the reader which is immersed
in the story and is subject to the author's thoughts and there is the
previously existing self.
"You have learnt something. That
always feels at first as if you had lost something"- George Bernard Shaw.
Iser expounds:
1. You lost the inability to do that thing (or the lack of
knowledge of the thing)- any change causes pangs of nostalgia, of fear of that
change
2. It implies relearning. You lost the wrong way to do it by
learning the right way, or the old way by learning the new way. In accordance
with 1, you will never do anything according to the old way- now your new way
dominates your behavior
Simon Johnson
www.thephilosophicalphotographer.co.uk
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