Text-worlds of ‘Unideal’ Readers
Text World Theory (TWT) considers the mental aspects of the reader as a participant in written discourse, where the knowledge, beliefs, memories, hopes and dreams, etc. of the reader are part of the context of the discourse world (Werth 1995a: 52, 1995b, 1999). This emphasis on the consideration of the reader as part of the context differentiates TWT from other world-building theories (e.g. Ryan 1991). However, little attention has been given to the discussion of ‘real readers’ in TWT, with the focus of most analyses on the majority ‘ideal’ readings of texts, or are idiosyncratic accounts of the researcher’s own interpretations (Al-Mansoob 2006). This disregards ‘unideal’ readings which present entirely different meanings to a text, e.g. the reader who considers Harrison Bergeron as the villain, and Glampers as the hero in Vonnegut Jr.’s dystopia (1961). Providing that the participating reader has sufficient ‘knowledge’ needed to create a discourse world (Werth 1999:95-98), their readings should not be marginalized. This paper suggests using personal interviews as a method of creating qualitative data of real readers, providing the basis for a socio-psychological perspective on the readers as individuals who bring their own emotions, beliefs, world views to the building of worlds in TWT.
Keywords
Text-world Theory, readers, qualitative interviews, Harrison Bergeron, unideal reader
References
Al-Mansoob, H. (2006). The Text Worlds of Raymond Carver: a Cognitive Poetic analysis. Unpublished Thesis. The University of Nottingham.
Ryan, M. L. (1991a). Possible Worlds: Artificial Intelligence and Narrative Theory. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
Vonnegut, jr., K. (1961) ‘Harrison Bergeron’. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 5-10.
Werth, P. (1995a). ‘How to build a world (in a lot than less six days, and using only what’s in your head.’ in Green, K. (Ed.) New Essays on Deixis: Discourse, Narrative, Literature. Amsterdam: Rodopi: 49-80.
-- (1995b). Werth, P. ‘'World enough, and time': Deictic space and the interpretation of prose.’ In P. Verdonk and J.J. Weber. (Eds.) Twentieth Century Fiction: From Text to Context, London: Routledge, 181-205.
-- (1999). Text Worlds: Representing Conceptual Space in Discourse, London: Longman
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Text World Theory (TWT) considers the mental aspects of the reader as a participant in written discourse, where the knowledge, beliefs, memories, hopes and dreams, etc. of the reader are part of…