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1 OPPGAVE
EN-410 15/12-2015
Course code: EN-410
Course name: Literary Theory
Date: 15 December 2015
Duration: 09:00-13:00
Resources allowed: English-English Dictionary
Notes: None
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EN-410 15/12-2015 Exam questions
ANSWER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1
Does a literary work have a stable meaning through time, or is it rather the case that different
groups of readers will inevitably confer different meanings on a text?
In response to the above question, compare some principles of New Criticism and ReaderResponse Criticism, and discuss ways in which a New Critical and a Reader-Response approach
to The Great Gatsby might yield either different or overlapping results.
2
”Many readings ignore important aesthetic features of a literary work because they concentrate too
much on the text’s psychoanalytic or political implications.”
Discuss some principles of either psychoanalytic criticism or political criticism. Applied to The
Great Gatsby, do you agree with the above statement that a strictly psychoanalytic or political
reading is likely to produce a one-sided interpretation?
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BESVARELSE
1. The principles and differences between a New Critical and a Reader-Response approach to The
Great Gatsby
The meaning of a work of literature is often a subject for discussion. The vast array of literary theories can be
seen as a evidence of this. It can be argued that the meaning an individual attributes to a work of literature
will change in tandem with societal and ideological developments. On the other hand, on can claim that the
literary work itself is timeless and is to be regarded as autonomous from outside interference. An argument
can also be made for the various meanings that different readers will attribute to the text, and how these
same readers may alter their individual interpretations over time. This text will seek to compare some of the
prominent principles of New Criticism and Reader-Response Criticism. In addition to this, the text will divulge
how these two approaches may yield different results when applied to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
Key principles of New Criticism
New Criticism emerged as a reaction to the dominating literary theory of the time, Biographical Historical
Criticism. The latter focused most of its attention on the biographical aspects of the author's life in order to
interpret a literary work.By gaining an understanding of the author's thoughts, friends and intellectual
environment, you could understand the poem written by the author. New Criticism can be characterised as an
opposition to this way of thinking. A prominent trait of this approach was that authority was given to the text
itself. All exterior matter was disregarded in order to solidify an intrinsic focus on the words that the text
consists of. The importance given to individual words is reflected in that New Critics believed paraphrasing to
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be a fallacy, as changing just one word in a text could drasticly alter the whole text's meaning. The New
Critics emphasised a text's organic unity, which was established by the interaction between different formal
elements found within a text.
Formal elements such as tensions, paradoxes, ironies and ambiguities were to be located and eventually
resolved in order to create the organic unity referenced above. In addition to contributing to the overall
organic unity of a text, the formal elements were also considered important in enriching the text with
complexity. A New Critical prerequisite for a work of literature to be considered great was complexity. The
New Critics believed that a work of literature should reflect the complexity which was to be found in life itself.
By inhabiting this complexity, the work of literature could be considered to be of universal significance, which
would again cement its position as a timeless and autonomous work of art. Even though New Criticism's
dominance is long since passed, parts of its legacy lives on. The focus on close reading found in New
Criticism has since been adopted by many different theories.
Key principles of Reader-Response Criticism
As opposed to New Criticisms intrinsic focus on the text itself, Reader Response Criticism can in some ways
be considered more open. In addition to this, Reader-Response criticism admits subjectivity, while New
Criticism claims objectivity There are several different approaches to practicing Reader-Response Criticism,
and these different approaches give varying degrees of authority to the text itself. Transactional ReaderResponse theory focuses on the transaction between text and reader, and maintains a large degree of
authority pertaining to the text. The text provides stimulus to the reader, which engages the reader's
interpretive and associative faculties. The text also acts as a blueprint, which helps ensure that the reader's
interpretation is somewhat grounded and restricted. Wolfgang Iser postulates that there are facts within the
text that the reader has to accept, as well as gaps that the reader is invited to fill. The meaning of a text is
therefore established through the interaction between reader and the text.
Social Reader-Response Criticism is another approach to applying Reader-Response Criticism and is largely
attributed to Stanley Fish. Fish explains that the reader, or interpreter belongs to an interpretive community
which is characterised by the utilisation of specific interpretive strategies. The interpretive strategies utilised
by the reader will largely determine the meaning that the reader will extract from a text. The norms and
values found within certain interpretive communties will therefore play a part in what kind of meaning the
reader finds. Subjective Reader-Response Criticism postulates that there is no meaning without the presence
of the reader's interpretation. Meaning is therefore created by the reader interpreting the text at hand. As can
be seen in the examples given abovfe, different approaches to Reader-Response Criticism give readers
varying degrees of authority. Another key principle of Reader-Response Criticism is the definition of the
reader.
The notion of "the reader" in Reader-Response Criticism
In Reader-Response Criticism there are various terms pertaining to a hypothetical "reader". One such term is
the implied reader. This implied reader is often defined as the reader that the author had in mind when writing
the work of literature in question. The implied reader will be able to understand the references, allegories,
metaphors and other literary devices and conventions that the author employs in the text. This is significant in
regard to the validity of a Reader-Response analysis of a text. A critic utilising this literary theory may often
refer to his/herself as an ideal reader, implying that the critic is aware of the devices and conventions utilised
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by the author, and therefore well-suited to preform an interpretation with a high degree of validity. The subject
of validity is arguably an important one in a literary theory that implies a high degree of subjectivity in its
name. However, as detailed in this paragraph, Reader-Response Criticism contains criteria that dictate
whether or not an interpretation can be considered vaild and useful to a literary community.
A comparison between the two approaches
There are both similarities and differences between the two approaches to literary criticism. A similarity
between the two can be found between New Criticism and Transactional Reader-Response Criticism. A
common denominator can be found in the authority given to the text itself. In the former, the text itself is given
absolute authority, and in the latter it is described as a superordinate blueprint that the reader must abide by.
However, a key difference is the claim of objectivity in New Criticism which negates the subjective
interpretations found in all approches within Reader-Response Criticism. This difference can also be seen in
relation to the two theories different perspectives on outside interference. New Criticism denies any outside
intereference by coining the terms intentional fallacy and affective fallacy. The former denotes that the
author's intention has no bearing on the text's actual meaning, while the latter details how emotions can
hinder an objective interpretation of a text. By establishing these two fallacies, objectivity can be achived by
avoiding them and focusing solely on the text. On the other hand, Reader-Response Criticism acknowledges
outside interference by referencing how experiences, emotional traumas and the like can influence an
interpretation (Psychological Reader-Response Criticism), and also how the environment surrounding the
interpreter can influence an interpretation through interpretive communities (Social Reader-Response
Criticism).
Applying the two approaches to The Great Gatsby
The former paragraphs have established a theoretical backdrop which will now be utilised in order to view
how these two different approaches may yield different results when applied to The Great Gatsby.
The New Critical approach - Establishing universal significance
A New Critical approach to The Great Gatsby would seek to maintain an objective perspective throughout an
analysis, while looking for tensions and other formal elements in the text that together creates an overarching
theme. Tensions in The Great Gatsby can be found in oppositions such as past and present, innocence and
decadence and the West and the East. Many of the novel's characters reference the past in a positive light.
Notably, Nick Carraway reminisce about his happy childhood, Jay Gatsby about his first encounter with Daisy
and Tom Buchanan about his succesfull career in college Fotball. The past is treated as both a positive and
an innocent thing, while the present, detailed in the novel, is referenced as more negative and decadent. This
creates tension between the binary opposition of past/present and innocence/decadence. The tension
present between the West and the East is established by the positive references to the West (Nick's
childhood) and the negative references to the East (New York decadence).
Towards the end of the novel, these tensions are resolved when past and present eclipse in the New York
hotel room where history repeats itself when Gatsby once again loses daisy, and when Nick, at the very end
of the novel, decides to move back West. The resolution of the different tensions in the novel are important in
order to establish the overarching theme of the novel, as well as the novel's universal significance. A New
Critic might conclude by establishing a univerisal significance pertaining to human loss. The theme of loss is
arguably central throughout the novel. This is apparent in the character of Nick when he several times
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references his innocent youth, while describing his bleak outlook on his future consisting of a "thinning
briefcase, [and] thinning hair". This could imply the loss of a more hopeful youth. Likewise, Tom Bucanan
frequently mentions his Fotball career, and his and Daisy's frequent travelling might imply a loss of purpose.
The character who most of all experiences loss throughout the novel is arguably Jay Gatsby. In the novel,
Gatsby loses Daisy twice, as well as he loses his innocence by participating in the illegal activity of
bootlegging. These examples are all textual evidence that can support the theme of human loss, and
therefore a claim of universal significance.
A Reader-Response approach
When utilising a Reader-Response approach to interpreting The Great Gatsby, the results of an analysis will
vary due to a number of factors. A Social Reader-Response approach will be influeced by the interpretive
community of the reader. The norms and values pertaining to the community will be influential in how the
reader perceives the different characters. In one interpretive community Jay Gatsby can be interpreted as a
criminal, due to his involvement in illegal activities, while in another he may be seen as a hero who
succesfully acheived the American Dream. The emphasis on his criminal background may vary from
community to community, depending both on the interpretive strategies used and the norms and values that
are important in that community. A Psychological Reader-Response approach will largely depend on the
associations made by the reader. Norman Holland mentions how interpretation can be used as a coping
mechanism. A reader may for example have painful memories of dogs, which can influence the reader's
perception of dogs in a given text. Interpretation can therefore be used to restore the equilibrium of the
reader's mind.The subjective nature of a Psychological Reader-Response approach can influence the
interpretations made by the reader, which will also have an effect on the overall result of the interpretation.
The adequacy of the reader is also an important factor in regard to the final result of an interpretation. There
is arguably a lot of symbolism in The Great Gatsby, such as Dr. Eckleburg's eyes, which are frequently
mentioned. In order for the reader to make use of such imagery in an interpretation, a prerequiste could be
knowledge of conventions and literary devices. If the reader inhabits this knowledge, it could influence the
result of the interpretation. The example mentioned above, of Dr. Eckleburg's eyes, could be seen as a
reference to God, which could again influence the interpretation of Myrtle Wilson's death. George Wilson is
seen facing the billboard of Dr. Eckleburg when talking to God. Instances such as this could lead a reader to
finding more biblical overtones. An example of this could be that the loss of innocence among many of the
characters, such as Gatsby's illegal activities, Jordan cheating at Golf, Myrtle's infidelity and Nick moving to
decadent New York, could be interpreted as an allegory for the Garden of Eden, and how humankind lost its
innocence.Such an interpretation would be influenced by a number of factors, one of which is arguably the
interpretive community of the reader and the general knowledge of the reader.
Conclusion
In this text I have detailed how the respective principles of New Criticism and Reader-Response Criticism can
influence the interpretation of a literary work. As detailed in the text above, a prominent difference between
New Criticism and Reader-Response Criticism is the formers belief in the timeless, autonomous nature of a
literary work and the stability of its meaning, and the formers more fluid, open perception of meaning. In
concluding this text, I would like to point out what I perceive to be the main flaw in a New Critical approach,
namely its stance on objectivity. As a living human being, it can be argued that the eye of the New Critical
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beholder can not be considered immune to outside interference. The critic is arguably influenced by the texts,
experiences and ideologies he or she has been in contact with, and just as the New Critical belief that every
single word in a literary text is deliberate, so can every word utilised by the critic be considered likewise.
If the above critique of New Critical objectivity is accepted, the postulation of a literary works stable meaning
through time can also be considered a fallacy, due to the subjective nature of meaning. The author of this
essay is of the opinion that meaning is always inherently subjective due to the outside interference that
influence which words that are used to describe the meaning of a literary work, as well as the interpretive
tools that are used to uncover the meaning of a text.The conclusion of this text is therefore that the meaning
of a literary work will not remain stable through time, but will rather change with norms, values, ideologies
and society in general.
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