The Literary Criticism Web

The German theorist and critic, Wolfgang Iser (born in 1926),is professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Irvine and also at the University of Konstanz. Iser is interested in the way in which readers are involved with literary works. His views of reader involvement are known as the reception theory.

In his 1989 essay, "The Play of the Text," Iser points out that the author, the text, and the reader are involved in an on-going relationship in literature that produces literary meaning. Among his many thought-provoking observations, he notes that a poem or a story leaves blank places for the reader: places where one contemplates what the author/text means. When the reader comes across these blanks, he must fill them in using his own knowledge and experiences. Out of this ironic collaboration between writer, text, and reader, meaning emerges.

Works Consulted

"Presentation on Wolfgang Iser." 8 June 1999 <http://www.multimedia.calpoly.edu/libarts/engl341/week1/present.htm>.

updated 07/28/99