Transactional Theory and the Study of Multicultural Literature
Mingshui Cai
Recently, transactional reader response theory has been criticized for providing an inadequate theoretical guide for the study of multicultural literature. Some scholars argue that Rosenblatt assumes the reader and her response to literature are ideologically innocent and the continuum of aesthetic and efferent stance does not encompass critical reading. They call for re-theorizing or moving beyond transactional theory. Analysis of the criticisms reveals misunderstandings of the nature of the theory and the two reading stances it proposes. While Rosenblatt emphasizes aesthetic response as the primary step in literary transaction, she emphatically states that it is the starting point for criticism. Transactional theory acknowledges the influence of social, cultural, and political factors on the individual reader. So Rosenblatt urges readers to learn to handle with intelligence and discrimination the personal factors that enter into their reaction to books and critically scrutinize their responses to literary works. Aesthetic response is connected to critical reading. Efferent reading, which is not just reading for information, can be critical reading. We should move beyond aesthetic reading but not beyond transactional theory.
Volume 85, Number 3, January 2008
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