The Transactional Theory: Against Dualisms

Abstract

hen asked to give my personal reactions to developments in theory in past decade, I was struck by fact that essay was for a book concerned explicitly with both writing theory and critical theory. In decades after first expounding my literary theory in 1938, I received dozens of invitations to speak or write, usually about literature, sometimes about composition-but I had to wait forty-five years to be invited to discuss their connections! The 80s decade made up for this and other delays. In 1980, widely-read anthology Reader Response Criticism: From Formalism to Poststructuralism called me the first among present generation of critics in this country to set forth readerresponse view (Tompkins xxvi). In 1983, Modern Language Association published fourth edition of Literature as Exploration. In that same year, I was asked to present a paper on and at a session of MLA Division on Teaching of Composition. In 1985, I was invited to give keynote talk on and at CCCC national conference. (In earlier decades, I had been a member of its Executive Committee.) In 1986, I was asked to give opening theoretical paper at conference on and Writing Connections jointly sponsored by Center for Study of Reading at University of Illinois and Center for Study of Writing at University of California at Berkeley. Versions of this paper, entitled and Reading: Transactional Theory, were published as technical reports by each of Centers. It was included in volume of conference papers, Reading and Writing Connections, published in 1989. The continuing interest in this subject seemed to me a sign of a changing climate in university departments of English. To discuss developments in writing theory and critical theory in 80s, I find I must sketch decades-long perspective from which I view them. I began