LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:5 May 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Locating Reader Response Theory in Jauss’s Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory

Raj Gaurav Verma, M.A., Ph.D. Research Scholar

Abstract

Hans-Robert Jauss is known for his theory of “Reception” that began in Germany. Twentieth century unfolded multiple aspects to look at literature within the critical framework of theories. Development of Structuralism by Ferdinand de Saussure, later developed and critiqued by Jacques Derrida’s Deconstruction, and then Formalism and New Criticism- all paved the way to shift the critical focus from the text and the author to the reader. Prior to twentieth century things were supposed to be fixed and certain, that’s why reader was not taken into account, but there was always a reader / audience. Consequently owing to the variety of readers there emerged different theories that focused on readers and how a reader responds to a particular text. Reader-Response theory has its notion grounded in Phenomenology and Hermeneutics. Against this background we have the development of Reception theory by Hans-Georg Gadamar and Hans Robert Jauss. Here we will focus on the “seven thesis” that Jauss gave in his monumental essay “Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory” which appeared in Towards an Aesthetics of Reception (1982). Reception theory as proposed by Jauss points at the relationship of text and reader which has two aspects: historical and aesthetics. Thus the long neglected reader comes to the forefront in reader-response theory. The text is left at the hands of the reader to receive its fate. Since no reader will have same outlook, the text is bound to be interpreted in various ways. Reader –response theory makes it clear that not only the socio-cultural, historical and ideological background comes into play, but also the intellectual and emotional activity manifested in the cognitive process of the reader’s act of reading.

Key Terms and Phrases: Marxist criticism, Russian Formalism, New Criticism, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, “aesthetics of reception”, “historical objectivism,” “horizon of Expectation,” “objectifiable system of expectations,” “horizontal change,” “actualization, realization or concretization.”

Twentieth Century Criticism

Twentieth century unfolded multiple aspects to look at literature within the critical framework of theories. Development of Structuralism by Ferdinand de Saussure, later developed and critiqued by Jacques Derrida’s Deconstruction, and then Formalism and New Criticism- all paved the way to shift the critical focus from the text and the author to the reader. Prior to twentieth century things were supposed to be fixed and certain, that’s why reader was not taken into account, but there was always a reader / audience. Consequently owing to the variety of readers there emerged different theories that focused on reader.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Raj Gaurav Verma
Research Scholar (Ph.D.)
Department of English & Modern European Languages
University of Lucknow
Lucknow 226007
Uttar Pradesh
India
rajgauravias@gmail.com
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