Czytelnictwo wrażliwości jako autoetnograficzny model rezonansu czytelniczego
Sensitivity Reading as an Autoethnographic Model of Reader Resonance

Summary/Abstract: The article concerns the nature of sensitivity reading, a form of interpreting and editing novels with regards to how minorities are portrayed in them. In the first section, the definition of sensitivity reading is provided based on press and online articles. In the second section, sensitivity reading is analysed within the frames of reader response theory: both in Louise Rosenblatt’s transactional model, and Norman Holland’s psychological one. Transactional theory of reading assumes that readers may be educated about the world and themselves by entering an interpretational relationship with the text, while Holland’s psychological theory of interpreting perceives a reader’s identity as a crucial factor in constituting meanings. Sensitivity reading is deeply rooted in social theories; thus, they are considered in the article. In the third section, the subject is connected with the feminist theory proposed by Patrocinio Schweickart, who describes different stages of reading a novel, in which a reader gradually understands the importance of their own self, which allows for identification of both personal identity and the meanings of the text. From this place, readers may form reading groups, the purpose of which is to lead to social changes through diversifying the interpretational potential of literature. Another model considered in reference to sensitivity reading is the autoethnographic one. Within literary studies, the autoethnography poses that literature may be analysed through the contexts of one’s own personality and experiences, which is the exact nature of sensitivity reading. In the fourth section of the article, quotes from two sensitivity reports written by different sensitivity readers are provided. By referring to these, I attempt to place approaches to literature manifesting in sensitivity reading within all the theories described in previous sections. The article ends with conclusion that sensitivity reading has potential to still be researched in both social and literary contexts.

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