Stanley Fish’s Reader-response Theory Research

Stanley Fish’s Reader-response Theory is the indispensable part of the Aesthetics of Reception system, it is also the representative of the advancement and prospective of Reader-Response Theory. While lifting the reader-centered theory, Fish takes the method of reading, reader’s experience and the result of interpretation as the major study object.By this way, he established a particular reader-response theory system, which contains lots of sparkle parts.This paper consists of four chapters. The first chapter is a main introduction of the ideological origin of Reception-aesthetics and Fish’s reader-centered theory. The pioneers of Reception-aesthetics considers that the meaning source of the work is not the text,but the reader, thus they open the door of the paradigm reform about literary criticism,established the basic mood of Fish’s related research. Fish establish the center position of the reader by two means: the concept of text meaning and text reading. Reading, which is a dynamic event, is the real source of meaning.The second chapter focuses on Fish’s criticism practice, then analyze the collision and fusion of his view of intention and interpretation. This chapter uses an entry point that Fish’s analyze of the interpretation of traps in Lost Paradise, then select two representative parts of it: the analysis of Satan’s image and the Fall of man. Thus, using sentences as the linkage, this part presents Fish’s opinion about the conformity and difference of author’s intention and text interpretation.The third chapter mainly analyzes the inner meaning of Fish’s attitude toward readers.Fish’s ideal state of the reader is a kind of college reader, he insists that readers should have some certain language skills, in other words, it is under an elitism label. For fear of the significance of chaos, Fish introduce a controlling mechanism of interpretation:Interpretation Community. Whereby, he turn the personal explanation to group activities,as a result, the risk of too subjective is eased.The last chapter is aimed at giving an overall assessment and analysis of Fish’s theory.Inheriting predecessors’ point of praising the readers, Fish also center on reader,meanwhile, he presents lots of other related opinions, which fixed the new criticismdimension by a complete theoretical system. Fish’s theory also contains abundant Humanism connotation. However, there are some paradox and shortage in his theory, such as the inappropriate using of terms, too radical critical attitude, swing of critical paradigm.