Part 1:
The Question Prompts (here is the link to the pictures of the assigned chapter selections from New Criticism in Steven Lynn’s Texts and Contexts
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=AEAFD1A5FAC9B121!2102&authkey=!AO-JB52TpiBIqxo&ithint=folder%2c
let me know immediately if there is any technical problems.)
What’s the purpose of Reader Response criticism? As an analytical tool, how does it help us understand literature better, and what exactly does it help us understand? What are we supposed to examine and talk about when we interpret a work of literature from a Reader Response perspective? What does Lynn mean when he says, as Reader Response critics do, that the reader “plays an active role in the making of meaning and that literary works in particular have a subjective status” (66)? How does this theoretical approach differ from that of New Criticism?
In your response work, reference specific passages (through correctly page-cited direct quotes or paraphrases) to help you address these questions and illustrate your responses, and always be specific and thorough in your reasoning and argument.
(200 words minimum)
Part 2:
The Question Prompts
(https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=AEAFD1A5FAC9B121!2103&authkey=!AEDY6DXNAviyNvM&ithint=folder%2c
here is a link to the pictures of Tillie Olsen’s Yonnondio: From the Thirties):
(All students must respond subjectively to the same passage from Yonnondio noted below. Please note that because this is Reader Response work, you may use 1st person voice (I, me) this time to refer to your own experiences as they relate to your reading of the story. Please observe all of the other conventions of standard academic writing though: present verb tense, no slang speech, ideas well supported with direct textual references that are cited with page numbers in parentheses, and good proofreading to ensure sentence completeness and correctness.)
Review the section from Chapter 1 of Yonnondio chronicling Mazie’s walk to town and encounter with Sheen McEvoy (pp 13 through the end of the chapter on p 22).
Using this series of scenes as your starting place, try out some of the theoretical principals you’ve learned from your study of Reader Response criticism this unit. How do you respond to this passage from Olsen’s story, subjectively? How does your response help you make sense of the work, in turn making it more “real” and meaningful for you? Do you think this is how Olsen wants you to respond to this moment in the story? Why? How exactly does she construct her language in her characterizations of people, place, time frame, tone and mood and atmosphere, to shape your response in a particular way? Why do you think she is trying to elicit certain responses from you? How do your subjective responses to this extended passage serve the larger goals Olsen might have for her storytelling in the novel?
(minimum of 300 words)
You may write in the 1st person so as to personalize your response to Olsen’s work
You may write about yourself in connection with the work you’re responding to, when appropriate to contextualize a point or a response
You may use past tense verbs when discussing your own history in relation to the text
You should still be referring to textual specifics in your response work, as always
These are all hallmarks of Reader Response critique. Choose a passage you feel connected to in some way or that speaks to you in some manner that makes it possible for you to write about how Tillie Olsen writes her work in a way that makes you feel the way you do after reading. Talk about specific elements of the writing you think Olsen has designed to elicit a specific response from you.
Describe the passage and then describe your subjective response to it. Describe how you think (other) readers are probably supposed to respond to it. Link your response to the larger aims of the book as you understand it, and to Tillie Olsen’s aims as a writer writing this story for you. Be thorough and comprehensive but very focused on only the specific short passage you’ve chosen to respond to subjectively. Describe as many specific details of the section you think is appropriate to contextualize and explain your response. Write as if you are writing for someone who has not already read the work (not me).
In your response work, reference specific passages (through correctly page-cited direct quotes or paraphrases) to help you address these questions and illustrate your responses, and always be specific and thorough in your reasoning and argument.