Academic essays by Kristen

Below are essays I wrote during college. Read them to see my thoughts on critical theory, art, and literature.

Individuality in Readers of the Work of Art
As soon as we approach a work of literature or art, we give over a portion of ourselves -- our memories, our likes and dislikes -- to the work. As Wolfgang Iser explains in The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response, a work of literature is not merely the text, nor the reader's private imagination, but is the dynamic communication between reader and text.

An interpretation of "Las Meninas" by Diego Velázquez
Las Meninas is most noted for its explicit involvement of the viewer in the imagined spacial scene created by the artist. The characters in the painting seem to be by and large preoccupied by an event that would be occuring near to where the viewer is standing.

An interpretation of "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow” presents a unique problem for interpretation of lyric poetry. On the one hand, the poem has often been taken as a celebration of “the thing itself,” presented in all its vitality and concreteness in the manner that Pound and Emerson would urge.