Passage

(1)Reading

In the late 1960s and early 1970s，interest in the reading relationship shifted away from textual devices and the author's intention in using them，toward the reader's response．From this perspective，the author's intention is disavowed as the main influence on the reader，for most reader-response critics do not accept the idea that responses are author-driven．Instead，they view reading as a process of co-constructing meaning in which the reader processes information based on his/her preexisting biases，expectations，and perceptions．Readers are presumed to“maneuver with the protagonist notably in the interest of comprehending the meaning of the work”．What this implies is that no single“correct”meaning can be conveyed by language and transmitted to all readers alike．Nonetheless，meaning is generally agreed to be constrained by a range of possibilities situated in the historical，ideological，and socio-cultural nexus where the individual engages with the written word．That is，the“normal”reader is assumed to be responding to something on the page，for words(unlike ink-blots)control the potential meanings available in a specific culture．“Reading”is the individually driven and culturally influenced process of interpretation that occurs regardless of the author's intention in“writing．”The term does not refer to a finished and finite product，but to an activity that“disseminates into an open set of diverse and opposed meanings”．

(2)Writing

Writing is now paired with reading，for meaning emerges out of a co-constructive negotiation between author and reader．Social science writing is no longer dominated by the conventions of“realism”that require an objective narrative stance on the part of the author and that convey“a clear，unmediated record of a knowable world”．The productorientation has been under attack in the U．S．for approximately a generation，since the dissemination of French poststructuralism．Barthes(1974)challenged the notion of the written product，instead conceiving of writing(ecriture)as a process in which the author activates preexisting language and literary conventions，and the readers interpret the marks-on-a-page in accordance with socially determined meanings．That is，the written word is not considered a finite object in a universe of fixed meanings(problems/solutions，causes/effects，questions/answers)，but instead is seen as a mediated bundle of diverse meanings in a universe of particularized interpretations．

(3)Text

1．Nonetheless，“an open set of diverse meanings”requires faith in the possibility of“meaning．”When we get to the term“text”as used by the deconstructive critics，the concept of meaning is discarded．“Text”refers to“the manifestation of an open-ended，heterogeneous，disruptive force of signification and erasure that transgresses all closure”(Johnson)．It is a catch-all term for any and all phenomena—the world is a text and the written word's capacity to serve as a“representation”of things in the external world is an illusion，and language is a text that can only construct，reconstruct，and deconstruct itself．The written word as the locus of meaning is but a more sophisticated illusion，for when the claim that meaning is open-ended is taken to its logical conclusion，openness is infinite，not“ended”or endable．

2．Derrida insisted that text comprised an indeterminate cycle of questions rather than a neatly finite series of questions and answers．Although his own work actualized his theory，most of his American followers argue that a provisional stopping-point is a practical necessity．De Man，perhaps the most influential American methodologist，is comfortable with the acceptance of a finite set of possible(although contradictory)meanings available at any given time．This provisional finiteness represents a middle way，somewhere between Derrida's completely open text and prior criticism's rigidly closed box of meaning．

3．In sum，the term for research that one uses announces one's belief that it is one kind of work(representation，discourse，dialogue，writing，narrative，text)rather than another．“Reading”and“writing”return control to meaning co-constructed by author and audience;and“text”has been used so broadly that it can reference the absence of any decidable meaning as well as whatever meanings are present．

Questions for Understanding

1．What do you find new about“reading”?

2．How do you like this“new way of reading”?

3．According to this section what factors determine meaning?

4．According to Barthes what is writing?

5．What does paragraph 1 in the section of“Text”intend to say?

6．What is the different view on text between Derrida and his American followers such as De Man?