The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett

Like no other art form, the novel confronts its readers with circumstances arising from their own environment of social and historical norms and stimulates them to assess and criticize their surroundings. By analyzing major works of English fiction ranging from Bunyan, Fielding, Scott, and Thackeray to Joyce and Beckett, renowned critic Wolfgang Iser here provides a framework for a theory of such literary effects and aesthetic responses.
Iser's focus is on the theme of discovery, whereby the reader is given the chance to recognize the deficiencies of his own existence and the suggested solutions to counterbalance them. The content and form of this discovery is the calculated response of the reader -- the implied reader. In discovering the expectations and presuppositions that underlie all his perceptions, the reader learns to "read" himself as he does the text.

Literature & Fiction

Iser, Professor Wolfgang

History & Criticism

The Johns Hopkins University Press

The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response

Prospecting: From Reader Response to Literary Anthropology

"An important transitional book, usefully summarizing the past and thoughtfully mapping out the future of a significant critic's theoretical project."--Modern Philology.
"There is a much greater emphasis on the reader's function as `performer' of the text in Prospecting than in Iser's other books. The two brilliant chapters on Beckett's fiction and drama are crucial here... Literature becomes `play' and `game,' and the reader becomes a performer of himself. This idea of performance becomes central to Iser's new theory. Art does not present life; it performs it."--Yearbook of English Studies.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Iser, Professor Wolfgang. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Iser, Professor Wolfgang

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Iser, Professor Wolfgang. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett

The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response

Prospecting: From Reader Response to Literary Anthropology