Abstract
I HE HISTORY OF WRITING is also the history of reading, but until recently criticism has ignored the full dimensions of the literary encounter, preferring the symmetries of verbal objects or the private gestures of a lone creator to the interaction between an author and an audience.' The good traditional reader is responsive, blessed insofar as he remains a shadow. But challenges to this tradition seem ever more frequent as literary theory feels the influence of philosophical, psychological, anthropological, and semiotic models based on irreducible intersubjectivity rather than mechanical causation and stimulus/response. The very fact that the methods and governing metaphors of criticism can change in this way proves that reading is not wholly passive, that there are variable (if often tacit) rights and obligations, degrees and kinds of commitment, with which a reader meets a text.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
