This thesis explores the components that are involved in the translation of a text that are interpretable by two distinct readerships. It examines: - theory that provides an understanding of dual-readership texts for children and adults; - examples of dual-readership texts, their translations, and analyses of these; - Bled by Daniel Danis and my English translation as a test case of a contemporary dual-readership source text and translation. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to shed light on what could be a new sub-domain of translation studies, namely, research on dual-readership translation. My translation of Bled provides insight into my own interpretation of dual-readership translation, namely, focusing on what is desirable and what is achievable in the translation of this type of text.

The thesis "Analysis of the current situation on the market of electronic books (eBook) in the Czech Republic", deals with topics and issues of e-books and the current market situation in the Czech Republic. One of its objectives is to introduce readers to the world of e-books, show a brief history and development of books and e-books as a medium, getting to know what's happening in the U.S., and particularly on the Czech market. For this thesis, it was developed an online questionnaire "Electronic books in the CR", which serves as a data source for the practical part. The practical part is to evaluate the situation on the market, attitude of respondents to reading, e-books, e-readers, and also use the data obtained for the selection of the best e-reader with a multicriteria method of choice.

Villette (1853), Charlotte Brontë's last novel, is famously riddled with ambiguity: its narrator-protagonist, Lucy Snowe, avoids disclosing details about her childhood, fails to reveal to readers the identity of characters she recognizes from her past, and, at the end of the novel, refuses to confirm if her love interest, M. Paul, has died at sea after a storm. Believing Lucy's ambiguous narrative style to be a tool she uses to train readers to better understand her, many critics have focused their efforts on trying to interpret Lucy's silences and evasions "correctly," thereby turning themselves into Lucy's or Brontë's "ideal" authorial readers. However, throughout her life, Lucy has resisted being read by people who assume they can fully know her and fit her into their worldview. Unwilling to impose her views on others, Lucy's autobiography encourages readers to make their own meaning without deciphering how she intends for it to be read. In this way, she maintains that she is ultimately unknowable to her readers, just as they are to her, and preserves, rather than erases, the distance that exists between reader and author. By constructing an authorial reader who does not seek to think as Lucy does, Villette invites readers to enter into an ethical relationship with Lucy, one in which otherness is respected and intimacy is possible despite differences.

This essay examines the protagonist of Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party” (1922), Laura, and her experiences of events that are made insignificant by the rest of the narrative. Gérard Genette’s narratological theory and the concept of epiphany is put forward in the theroertical framework in order to preform this investigation. Morris Beja’s and Liesl Olson’s studies of the epiphany in modernist literature assists the investigation. Thus, with the support of Genette’s narratological theory and the concept of epiphany, this essay examines epiphanic moments in “The Garden Party”. It will also study how these moments transfer on to the reader through multimodal techniques. This argument is supported by Joseph Conrad’s preface to The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’.

Dracula was written by Bram Stoker in 1897 but in this thesis I will discuss the different interpretations that can be achieved using reader response theory.  More specifically how gender affects these reader responses.  It is a detail analysis of how a feminine reader with a 21st century perspective can achieve different reactions to the text than that of the previous masculine and patriarchal readings that have been common in the past. This approach to Dracula has shown in more detail how the current representation of vampires in our culture has come to pass.  Dracula was one of the first vampire novels, but it was by no means the last, and the current fascination with vampires is a direct result of ‘reading’ them in a feminine way. It shows how in Dracula demons, victims and heroes, with a new perspective, become tragic, misunderstood and patriarchal oppressors. Also that it is through an integration with the text itself and reading in a feminine way that we are able to see them that way.

國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班 論文提要 論文名稱 : 透過文學教英語 : 從讀者反應層面探討文學作品在英語教學上之應用 指導教授 : 林茂松 博士 研究生 : 胡碧桃 論文提要內容 : 本論文旨在探討藉由文學教學激發學習者學習英語的動機及對文學的興趣，進而提升其英文閱讀及寫作能力的可能性。 從二十世紀初以來，對於文學教法，學者先後提出各種理論，舉其盈盈大者：如傳統教學法、心理分析法、及新文評主義，對文學教學皆有著墨。近年來，以讀者為中心、重視讀者與文本間的互動、允許不同讀者對同一作品有不同詮釋的讀者反應理論已成為教師們在教授文學時樂於應用的教學法。 本研究採用以Rosenblatt 為首的學者的建議，先引導學生閱讀文學文本，由學生以書面方式，回答老師根據文本提出與學生知識經驗相關的美學問題，最後全班參與討論，分享感受。 受試者為國立三重高中二年級學生。測驗工具為取自全民英檢(1999及2003年)中級閱讀測驗及作文試題、自製英語學習動機問卷以及文學興趣問卷。實驗組於前測後，以六篇文學作品為其教科書外之補充教材；而控制組則給予六篇非文學類文章。實驗時間為時一學期 (自2002年九月至2003年一月) 。 經由問卷調查訪問及前後測實施結果分析，發現實驗組的學生，在接受讀者反應法的文學教學後，可提升其英文學習動機、文學興趣及閱讀能力。至於寫作部分，實驗組的學生使用的字彙量比控制組為多。 本研究結論發現若經過適當設計，文學作品可以做為合適的閱讀教材以提升英語學習動機、激發創造性及批判性思考，甚至培養出終身的文學讀者。 / Abstract This thesis aims to investigate the effects of using literature as supplementary reading material for senior high school students studying English as a foreign language. The study adopts reader response theories, whose critics focus on the reader and the interaction between the reader and the text. An experiment was run for five months on senior high school subjects. Following a pre-test, the experimental group used six literary texts as supplementary reading material and the control group six non-literary ones. After exploring each text, students in the experimental group were assigned to answer reader response questions and those in the control group were asked to answer synthesis /evaluation questions after exploring each text. In addition, a questionnaire was issued to the subjects to investigate whether they liked the texts or not. Oral interviews were also conducted with the subjects to further observe their reactions to each work. After the teaching experiment, a post-test was given to examine the performance differences between the two groups. Throughout the experiment, all class interactions were recorded, then transcribed, and analyzed. The results show that (1) after the experiment, more students in the experimental group liked English than in the control group, (2) literary texts triggerred more interest than non-literary ones, (3) the number of students interested in literature increased after using literary texts as supplementary reading material, and (4) the students given literary texts as supplementary reading material develop better English reading skills and a larger English writing vocabulary than those in the controlled group. In addition, the students in the experimental group were eager to share their ideas about the readings. Key words: reader response, literature instruction, literary text, supplementary reading material.

James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is known as one of the most difficult texts in all of literature. A one-to-one relationship, however, between a decoding reader and a presenting author is something Finnegans Wake does not incorporate in any traditional sense. Because of the ways in which Joyce manipulates language through assonance and multilingual references, his words are essentially freed from their dictionary definitions and rely instead on connotations. This essay looks at the text from the perspective of a first reading, a look that is then compared to a more 'authoritative' stance found in various glossaries, to see if the information found there takes precedence over the reader's imagination, and if self-made meanings remain 'appropriate' in the face of the explanations. The text is shown to become more of a device with which we produce meaning, rather than a story to which we are only passively listening or otherwise trying to understand. Instead, it celebrates obscure, often contradicting sense relations, which correspond to the dream-like nature of its nocturnal theme. Despite the sheer amount of historical references contained within, the first-time reader can proceed without the many glossaries that have been written on the work, and instead rely on a more creative and less disciplined method of examination. This essay is thus tainted with an inherent contradiction—it questions the transcriptive act epitomized by eager textual scholars set on elucidating the text's difficulties while simultaneously committing that act, but only in order to encourage readers that Finnegans Wake otherwise scares away and to suggest an alternate method of reading. Readers are thereby asked to relieve themselves of their domesticated behavior, and get involved. The difficulty of Finnegans Wake only appears when we read it in terms of conventional understanding, and should instead encourage us into becoming creative users.

This study was designed to investigate the question of what goes on in a reader's mind as she transacts with extended text. It was a case study with one respondent, a ten year old girl. She reported, in writing, her thoughts during teacher read aloud, subsequent silent reading of the same text, and group discussions about the text. The findings support and flesh out Rosenblatt.s transactional theory, Vygotsky.s Zone of Proximal Development theory, and Lipman.s Philosophy for Children theory. Conclusions were that there are numerous sociocultural influences on a reader's transaction with text and that these influences must be taken into account in the classroom.

The purpose of this study was to identify reading achievement of pupils assigned to the reading clinic and analyze and compare this achievement by grade levels with levels of intelligence. More specifically, the investigation attempted to determine: 1. The grade level at which the reading clinic was most effective; 2. The intelligence level at which the reading clinic was most effective; 3. The statistical significance of the variation in group intelligence test IQ's; and 4. The correlation between group intelligence test IQ's and total reading achievement.

Cette thèse porte sur l'enseignement de la littérature au niveau post-secondaire et sur le problème d'appropriation du phénomène littéraire par les élèves, précisément ceux du cégep (Québec) et du lycée (France). / Non fourni par l'auteur