[1] Specifically, it is the structure by which a person comprehends, decodes and appraises any text based on cultural codes and conventions particular to their time in history.
[3] Jauss describes it this way, 'a literary work is not an object which stands by itself and which offers the same face to each reader in each period'.
Interaction with a text can be emotive for the reader as their acquaintance with familiar features of genre can produce expectations for the 'middle and end' after the 'beginning' has provoked such anticipation.
If a composition challenges a reader's expectation, it can do so either with a positive result in the way of a new perception, or a negative one as in an unpleasant new experience.
[12] This 'history of reception' works to determine the intertextuality and 'historical expectation of readers' as variances in readings and emphasises Jauss's primary concern of making the 'new and challenging' become 'familiar and effortless'.