Rosenblatt and reader response in theory and practice: Cabrini College as a case study

This ethnographic research project seeks to examine literary theory and practice, specifically that of Louise Rosenblatt, employed at Cabrini College, a small, private Catholic liberal arts college in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Cabrini College\u27s mission statement: to strive to educate holistically mind and spirit, permeates the school; thus the school and its faculty are ripe for embracing a literary stance as individualized as Rosenblatt\u27s. Reader response theory is firmly rooted in the English department of Cabrini College. A professor on staff, Dr. Arthur E. Young, developed a literary framework based on Rosenblatt\u27s work. With regard to Rosenblatt\u27s theory in place at Cabrini, is it a strict translation or a modified amalgam? What does theory look like in practice? How do practitioners view theory and practice with regard to their own pedagogy? What problems and contradictions, if any, exist? What members of the faculty employ Rosenblatt and how have they adapted Rosenblatt for their own uses? What does Dr. Young\u27s flexible framework incorporate of Rosenblatt\u27s theory and how is it used in practice? What is happening in the classroom? How do the students feel about the literary theories and practices in place? The literature review includes Bleich, Holland, Purves, Probst, and of course, Rosenblatt, to map reader response in general and specifically literary interpretation and ownership. Documentation includes faculty interviews as well as student surveys and interviews. Interviews and surveys are of a pedagogical, metacognitive and reflective nature. Undergraduate literature classes, Contemporary American Literature and Cinematic Interpretation of Literature, were observed on a regular basis and were the pool from which faculty and student participants were selected. This ethnographic research provides a qualitative glimpse of reader response practices in a 1995 college literature classroom. This dissertation will contribute to the academic conversation of literary theory in contemporary college practices