literary criticism, to grant value to all reading, whether expert or naive. But it is still reader response criticism, and that is where equivocation begins to creep in. Reader response critics do tend to value all reading, but insofar as they are critics working within the guild, the implicit critical presuppositions of the guild guide their work. They are not just readers; they are expert, critical readers. But the difference between being a critical reader and being simply a reader needs to be