Reader-response criticism
Louise M. Rosenblatt's book, Literature as Exploration (1938) is a useful place to begin an inquiry into Reader-response criticism. She argues that it is important for the teacher to avoid imposing any "preconceived notions about the proper way to react to any work." Instead, "the student must be free to grapple with his own reaction... to be given the opportunity and the courage to approach literature personally, to let it mean something to him directly" (p. 66).
Rosenblatt, Louise M. Literature as Exploration, Third Edition, The Modern Language Association of New York, 1938, 1983.
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