Abstract

The present study is an investigation of the reader-response theory on three works of Fish. In "Literature in the Reader: Affective Stylistics" (1970), "Interpreting the Variorum (II)" (1976), "Normal Circumstances" (1978), Fish charts the progress of his evolving interpretive method. For this study, first, a comprehensive reading is done on Stanley Fish's three major works as well as on different attitudes toward the reader-response theory. Then, Fish's contribution to the development of reader-response theory is traced and the concurrence and contradictions of his ideas are shown with other critics such as William Wimsatt, Monroe Beardsley, and Norman Holland. Finally, the relevance and impact of his ideas in contemporary society are drawn.

Key words: Reader-response criticism, interpretive community, affective stylistic.