西方文學界自1970、80年代以來，已將文學研究的焦點轉到讀者身上，德國文論家姚斯（H. R. Jauss）更以接受美學的角度對以往文學史的撰寫提出挑戰，接受美學強調讀者在文學史中所佔的重要地位。以接受史觀來看台灣小說的發展，顯然與從形式主義和新批評的觀點出發有很大的不同。雖然目前尚未見由國人撰寫的台灣小說史的出版，更未見自讀者的接受角度撰史的著作，惟近20年來，包括1986年久大書香世界「暢銷三十」的問卷與市場調查、1999年由《聯合報副刊》承辦的「經典三十」的評選、以及2004年由誠品書店等單位合辦的「最愛一百小說票選」等，這些於當代小說史中出現的文學事件或活動，均可從接受的角度出發來一一檢視其於歷史演變中所產生的意義。

It was the 1960s, the critics witnessed a turn from the author and text at large to the reader in western academic circle. The critics in the 1970s and 1980s called it ”an age of reading” to indicate the unprecedented awareness of reader and reading. The aesthetics of reception represented by H. R. Jauss et al. had become to be a very important approach to study novel in western countries. The reception theory, in general, is distinguished from the formalism and new criticism by its emphasis on the reader rather than on the text. It is to be noted, however, that the “age of reading” was absent from novel history in Taiwan. Until now, there is no concentration on the reader to study novel history in Taiwan. It’s necessary to make a further shift away from the novel text to give the reader a more positive role to play. From this reception perspective, there were three surveys concerning the novel-reading since 1980s in Taiwan should be inquired further here. These surveys represent a new perspective on novel history.