Wolfgang Iser’s The Act of Reading: Implied Reader

Wolfgang Iser’s The Act of Reading presents a list of the various types of readers possible

when it comes to interpreting literary text. These readers have different interpretations of the

text. These interpretations are affected by how the author appeals to each of the readers,

either through the text itself or through the beliefs that the reader brings to the text. One reader

Iser focuses on is the implied reader. After carefully examining what an implied reader is, Iser’s

main assumptions about this role are easily noticeable.

Iser’s implied reader allows the text to be broken down in such a way that the structured

effects of a text can be described. Also, the implied reader allows for all predispositions to be

mentioned so the text can achieve its meaning effectively. In fact, Iser says it best when he writes

the implied reader “embodies all those predispositions necessary for a literary work to exercise

its effect.” An implied reader is a part of the text. And this part is extremely imperative to the

text. Iser himself states that this implied reader concept “designates a network of response-

inviting structures, which impel the reader to grasp the text.” In other words, the implied reader

is a backbone to a person reading the text. Without the implied reader, the text will have no

sufficient value present.

Iser’s implied reader also has structured acts which help make the text more beautiful.

The implied reader, or as Iser calls it, a “transcendental model” can take some sort of aesthetic

experience from the past and structure it in a way that the these acts eventually produce and

discover some literary meaning. Iser’s “implied reader” is not a reader, but a role that is implied by the text. The role of

the implied reader is to see what type of reader the text addresses. Through the ingenious uses

of irony, conventions, history, etc., the type of reader the text addresses comes into play.

However, one of Iser’s assumptions is that, instead of the text having a certain meaning, the

reader, in his role, creates the text himself, filling in the different holes in the story, assuming

what the outcome of the story might be, all along using his own beliefs, values and norms to

comprehend the story that he is reading, thus creating the dynamic interaction between the text

and the reader. The role of the implied reader does not sit there and try to find the main objective

surrounded in the text. Rather, the literature itself is able to generate different effects of meaning

for the reader. This causes a space between reader and text. While both the reader and the

literature take on similar compacts from reality, the text itself leaves much to the imagination,

often leaving certain components of the text unanswered. In order for the role of the implied

reader to work effectively, he must participate in building parts of the text with living certain

events of meaning through reading.

Whereas the real reader is documented, the implied reader, depending on the type of text,

is controlled by the text. There’s always something that can be changed. The role of the implied

reader makes appropriate predictions, makes meanings, and makes conclusions based on the

unexpressed details of various characters and settings. Rather than the reader being in charge,

the text is in charge. As a result of the text being in charge, the role must be able to be confined

to certain exercises set by the work.

I like to think of the implied reader as a mediator to all the other roles of various readers.

Since Iser’s implied reader is the role to decide how the text he is reading applies various literary and rhetorical strategies, the role of the implied reader must then want to invite other reader roles

to see what he (the implied reader) sees. The role of the implied reader is to invite the other

various reader roles to adopt certain beliefs, attitudes, and norms about the text that is being read.

The various other roles may not align themselves with the implied reader, but at least the implied

reader fulfilled his role well enough.

Iser writes about many readers; however, I think his “baby” is the implied reader. Iser,

through his use of language, seems to want to advertise the implied reader the most. Iser’s

main assumption about the reader that is implied by the text and by the effects of the text

is there is not one meaning hidden inside the actual text. Instead of the meaning being

generated inside the text, the meaning is generated between the text itself and its reader.

If this interaction is missing, there is no “meaning” that exists. For this interaction to occur,

the text must be able to structure a role for the reader, and the reader must establish that role

when reading. The next time you read a piece of text, consider having Iser in the back of your

mind; you may never look a piece of text the same again.