The Attraction Of Space---An Exposition Of Spaces In Fictional Art From The Dimension Of Reception

A major change of literary criticism in the past thirty years has beenthe return of readers. After the popular socio-historical approach in the 19^thcentury, the history of modern literary theory can be roughly periodized inthree stages: a preoccupation with the author; an exclusive concern with thetext, and a marked shift of attention to readers over recent years. Readerswho have been underprivileged at last appear as an undeniable dimensionin literary world. Reader-oriented theory has been proven to be breakingthrough literature itself, and heading for culture, history and society.Therefore, any attempt to demarcate and define the space readers mightfind and enjoy in fiction reception and responses should be necessary andfeasible. Fiction, as the most important and popular literary type, has agreat variety of spaces for readers. This paper attempts to fill the gap by anaccessible exposition to the spaces of fictions readers enjoy before reading,in the act of reading, and after reading, although the discussion of thespaces before and after reading are similarly applicable to any literaryworks.The paper is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one brieflyintroduces reader-oriented theory and the rise of readers in literary history.Meanwhile, the paper has outgrown the traditional concepts of space,reader and reading.In ChaPter two, Jauss' concept of "horizon of expectations" is adoptedto dcal with thc cxpcctcd spaccs i11 such aspccts as psychology, fOrmation,classification and traits.Fictional teXt$are the direct object of consumption of readers, whichembody the greatest spaces. ChaPter three aims to explore the textllalspaces readers might enjoy in the act of reading in plot, characters, theme,points of view, structure and language. And the spaces readers may findand enjoy by experiencing and transcending are also discussed in thischaPter.ChaPter four introduces the spaces readers enjoyed by the samereaders and different readers in repeated reading, which proves that textualspaces can be explored again and again without being exhausted.ChaPter five exposes readers' spaces after the act of reading. With thegratification, inspiration, enjoyment and understanding as the directinfluences on readers, this chaPter aims to verify that readers play anessential pwt in the emergence of literary trend because of their higher,broader, newer expectations for better works.Chapter six demonstrates the limitations of readers' spaces in flctionreception and responses objectively.Chapter seven is the conclusion. It summarizes the previous chaPtCrsand points out the fact that peoplc no longcr discuss the meaning of a textwithout considering readers' contributions, neither do they discuss literaryart and its development without giving considerations to readers' spacesbefore, in and after reading. Our aims, therefore, have been modest ratherthan ambitious: to help readers find, enjoy and expand their creative spacesin fiction reception and responses; to help writers to know better the spacesof readers in choosing their theme, characters, forms, style and so on; moreimportantly, to serve the sincere hope fOr the cooperation of readers andwriters in promoting the flourishing of literature creation.