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| Library status: currently open during regularly scheduled hours. |
The Crafty Reader by
"I believe that it is in our interest as individuals to become crafty readers, and in the interest of the nation to educate citizens in the craft of reading. The craft, not the art. . . . This book is about that craft."--from the Introduction This latest book from the well-known literary critic Robert Scholes presents his thoughtful exploration of the craft of reading. He deals with reading not as an art or performance given by a virtuoso reader, but as a craft that can be studied, taught, and learned. Those who master the craft of reading, Scholes contends, will justifiably take responsibility for the readings they produce and the texts they choose to read. Scholes begins with a critique of the New Critical way of reading ("bad for poets and poetry and really terrible for students and teachers of poetry"), using examples of poems by various writers, in particular Edna St. Vincent Millay. He concludes with a consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of the fundamentalist way of reading texts regarded as sacred. To explain and clarify the approach of the crafty reader, the author analyzes a wide-ranging selection of texts by figures at the margins of the literary and cultural canon, including Norman Rockwell, Anaïs Nin, Dashiell Hammett, and J. K. Rowling. Throughout his discussion Scholes emphasizes how concepts of genre affect the reading process and how they may work to exclude certain texts from the cultural canon and curriculum.
A Handbook of Qualitative Methodologies for Mass Communication Research by 
Intimate Violence: Reading Rape and Torture in Twentieth-century Fiction by
"Tanner deals with the central question of all narrative texts: how the reader is manipulated into empathy or distance by the text. . . . This study . . . is the sort that needs to be redone in every classroom and by every mature reader. . . . Tanner offers provocative and useful discussions of rape and torture . . . " --Choice "This thoughtful and disturbing book raises serious questions about 'the consequences . . . of reading representations of rape and torture.' " --American Literature "In this incisive exploration of twentieth-century novels, art, and ads, Laura Tanner explains the mechanisms by which reader and viewer are implicated in violence. Equally effective as a challenge to textual assault is the grace and gentleness of Tanner's own prose. Intimate Violence signals the emergence of an astute and humane critical voice." --Wendy Steiner Through an examination of such notorious works as The White Hotel and American Psycho, Laura Tanner leads us in a disturbing exploration of the reader's complicity with fictional depictions of intimate violence.
The Limits of Interpretation by
"Eco s essays read like letters from a friend, trying to share something he loves with someone he likes.... Read this brilliant, enjoyable, and possibly revolutionary book." George J. Leonard, San Francisco Review of Books ..". a wealth of insight and instruction." J. O. Tate, National Review "If anyone can make semiotics] clear, it's Professor Eco.... Professor Eco's theme deserves respect; language should be used to communicate more easily without literary border guards." The New York Times "The limits of interpretation mark the limits of our world. Umberto Eco's new collection of essays touches deftly on such matters." Times Literary Supplement "It is a careful and challenging collection of essays that broach topics rarely considered with any seriousness by literary theorists." Diacritics Umberto Eco focuses here on what he once called "the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation" that is, the belief that many interpreters have gone too far in their domination of texts, thereby destroying meaning and the basis for communication."
On Shakespeare in Sonnets : A Study in the Theory and Practice of Reader Response Criticism by 
The Personal Voice in Biblical Interpretation by
Reading and interpreting the Bible, whether as an 'ordinary' or critical reader, has always been strongly influenced by a person's own experience. They demonstrate the variety of ways in which the Bible can have meaning for different people. The contributors offer challenging new perspectives on the ancient biblical books and individual texts of the Torah, the prophets, the Gospels, (Pauline) letters and Revelation. The Personal Voice in Biblical Scholarship contains the original essays of distinguished Jewish and Christian scholars of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament from all over the world and a variety of backgrounds.
The Postwar Novel in Canada: Narrative Patterns and Reader Response by
As a comparative study which includes the analysis of both English-Canadian and Quebec novels, this book provides an overview of the novel as it has developed in this country since the Second World War. Focusing on narratological rather than thematic elements, the book represents a systematic application of the insights and analytical tools of reader-reception theory, in particular the models proposed by Wolfgang Iser and Hans Robert Jauss. Placing the emphasis on the text and its effects rather than on the historical or psycho-sociological genesis of the text, the author invokes the models and paradigms of other literatures to establish a broader cultural context permitting the significance of a literature to emerge as a carrier of meaning in and beyond the culture that produces it. Tracing a critical path from Hugh MacLennan's hierarchic romance structures and Gabrielle Roy's social realism to the metafictions of Hubert Aquin and Timothy Findley, the author reveals that the novel's narratological features themselves are often closely linked with ideological positions.
The Reader, the Text, the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work by
This important new work brings a fresh and carefully elaborated theory of the literary work of art to the current rediscovery of the reader that of the concept, based on the transactional point of view, of the two-way process involved in eliciting a literary work of art from a text. Dr. Rosenblatt draws on her long experience as a scholar and teacher of English and Comparative Literature. Amply illustrating her theoretical points, she provides contrasting interpretations of a number of varied texts, discusses other critical approaches, and makes reference to recent philosophical developments.
Reception History, Tradition and Biblical Interpretation: Gadamer and Jauss in Current Practice by
This study seeks to make a contribution to current debates about the nature of Wirkungsgeschichte or reception history and its place in contemporary Biblical Studies. The author addresses three crucial questions: the relationship between reception history and historical-critical exegesis; the form of reception history itself, with a focus on the issue of which acts of reception are selected and valorized; and the role of tradition, pre-judgements and theology in relation to reception history. Disagreements about these matters contribute to what many characterise as the fragmentation of the discipline of biblical studies. The study champions the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer as a theoretical resource for understanding biblical interpretation, and a way of holding together with integrity the varied activities undertaken within the discipline. Each aspect of the argument is illustrated, tested and further explored with reference to the post-history of exhortations in the New Testament to 'be subject'. These have been widely cited and applied for 2,000 years - in literature, law and politics as well as in theological traditions. In this way the study makes a contribution not just to the theory but also the practice of reception history.
The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction by
"Fetterley's questions are often so crucial, her observations repeatedly so acute, that they force us to ask how we avoided them in the past." -- Women's Studies International Quarterly ..". thoughtful, informed, and well written." -- Choice
Return of Reader: Reader-response Criticism by 
Understanding Stuart Hall by
'This is the most lucid and engaged account of Stuart Hall's work. Meticulously, and with an exemplary generosity, Helen Davis patiently unravels the threads of Hall's intellectual history. The result is a most useful and thoughtful book, which could prove to be indispensable for students of cultural studies' - Graeme Turner, University of Queensland Understanding Stuart Hall traces the development of one of the most influential and respected figures within cultural studies. Focusing on Stuart Hall's writings over a period of nearly fifty years, this volume offers students and academics a cogent and exploratory route through complex and overlapping areas of analysis. In her critical assessment of Hall's most important contributions to academic and public debate, Davis shows the extent to which his analyses of race and ethnicity have been informed by early studies of Marxism, class and 'societies structured in dominance'. Davis offers fresh insight into the formation of one of the most prolific, charismatic and controversial intellectuals of his generation. Despite having been branded a 'cultural pessimist', Stuart Hall has long been associated with encouraging new, cutting-edge scholarship within the field. This volume concludes with a discussion of Hall's most recent political and academic interventions and his continuing commitment to innovation within the visual arts.