Literature As Exploration

In Literature as Exploration, Rosenblatt presents her unique theory of literature and focuses on the immense, often untapped, potential for the study and teaching of literature in a democratic society. Her "transactional" theory of literature examines the reciprocal nature of the literary experience and explains why meaning is neither "in" the text nor "in" the reader. Each reading is "a particular event involving a particular reader and a particular text under particular circumstances." And teachers of literature, Rosenblatt argues, play a pivotal role in influencing how students perform in response to a text.