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

Iser, Wolfgang

ISBN 10: 0801821509 / ISBN 13: 9780801821509

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication Date: 1974
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801821509
• ISBN 13: 9780801821509
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Like no other art form, the novel confronts its readers with circumstances aring 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 Thackery 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 the perceptions, the reader learns to "read" himself as he does the text.

About the Author

Wolfgang Iser, who has taught at leading universities in the United States and Europe, is currently professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Constance.