Reviews for Formalist Criticism and Reader-Response Theory

The average rating for Formalist Criticism and Reader-Response Theory based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-10-30 00:00:00 Martin Gonzalez A reasonably good introduction to two schools of literary criticism. Its explanation of the history and practices of formalism is well-done, though its explanation of reader-response theory, and especially its chapter on Stanley Fish, sometimes verge on the unintelligible. This is mostly made up for, however, by the exemplars of formalist and reader-response criticism at the end of the book.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-09-14 00:00:00 Mark Fincher The first time I came across George Steiner was on a Dutch documentary called "Nauwgezet and Wanhopig", which featured interviews with him, György Konrád, Jorge Semprum and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was impressed by Steiner straight away, his way of words is mesmerizing and I couldn't stop listening to him. I have the same reaction to his books, there's just something about how he treats language and the vast amount of knowledge he has that make them so impressive. "Errata" is a semi-autobiographical book, coupled with philosophical, linguistic, sociological, and many other types of comments and analyses by Steiner. It's one of his shorter and more accessible books, but this doesn't mean that it's not as good. On the contrary, it may just be his most beautiful work. There's one section in particular that I like to quote just about anywhere; "We speak in (rich) monotones. Our poetry is haunted by the music it has left behind. Orpheus shrinks to a poet when he looks back, with the impatience of reason, on a music stronger than death." Read it.