Column A: Surprised by Sin: The Reader in "Paradise Lost"
Correct Match: II – Stanley Fish
Explanation: Stanley Fish is a leading figure in affective stylistics and reader-response criticism.
In "Surprised by Sin", Fish analyzes how readers’ interpretations evolve while reading "Paradise Lost", showing how the text guides and manipulates reader response.
This is a hallmark of Fish’s theory: meaning is not fixed in the text but created through the reading process.
Column B: Five Readers Reading
Correct Match: IV – Norman Holland
Explanation: Norman Holland is associated with psychoanalytic reader-response theory.
In "Five Readers Reading", he examines how different individuals interpret the same text differently, based on their psychological makeup.
The book supports his theory that readers project their identity onto the text.
Column C: The Reader, the Text, the Poem
Correct Match: I – Louise Rosenblatt
Explanation: Rosenblatt proposed the Transactional Theory of Reading.
In "The Reader, the Text, the Poem", she argued that a poem is not an object, but something that happens during the transaction between reader and text.
The reader’s role is central in constructing the poem’s meaning.
Column D: With Respect to Readers
Correct Match: III – Walter J. Slatoff
Explanation: Slatoff emphasized the plurality of meanings and reader experiences in literature.
His book "With Respect to Readers" focuses on the idea that literature is open-ended and interactive, and that readers participate in the creation of meaning.
✅ Therefore, the correct matching is:
Title Author
A. Surprised by Sin II. Stanley Fish
B. Five Readers Reading IV. Norman Holland
C. The Reader, the Text, the Poem I. Louise Rosenblatt
D. With Respect to Readers III. Walter J. Slatoff
Year-wise PYQs
