Intersecting Compositional and Transactional Theory: How Art Can Help Define Reader Response

Abstract:This paper attempts to explain transactional reader-response theory and its critiques using metaphor and composition to capture some of the vast and complex processes occurring in readers’ minds. The belief is that our understanding of literature is shaped through image and form, thus the need to pull from compositional theory to explain the mental processes of transactional theory. For this paper, four separate compositions were created to reflect an individual interpretation of efferent, expressive, aesthetic, and critical responses to literature, responses outlined by Rosenblatt and her critics. This paper aims to provide teachers and scholars with an overview of how artistic representation can help explain the dynamic process of reader response and encourage teachers to recognize these complexities occurring in their students’ minds.