A study was conducted to examine three fundamental aspects of the process of responding to a literary work of art: the nature of the reader's response to literature, the processes of response to literature, and the relationship of a reader's personal construct system to the way in which the reader responds to a literary work of art. The subjects were four grade 12 readers, two male and two female, who were selected on the basis of above-average reading skills, grades, and ability. After a test was administered to determine their personal construct systems, each reader was shown a videotaped display demonstrating introspective, verbalized responses during reading. Each student then read four short stories while commenting on their reactions and while having physiological reactions videotaped. Reactions were also recorded of each student responding to previous tapes. Results indicated the following: students construed literary works in terms of their own past personal interactions with the world; the style of a literary work inhibited readers if it was unfamiliar; images were consciously seen and reported when the style of the literary work was not inhibiting; and in the process of responding to literature, cognitive and affective elements were operating. (DF)