The Most Powerful Pair: The Reader and The Writer (Prompt #4)
The reader and the writer have a relationship in which they use one another to further the experience of literature, described by Thomas C. Foster as, “one creative intelligence.” This means that the reader uses the writer to see new ideas and find meaning between the lines of his work all while becoming inspired by the words in which he is reading, the writer needs the reader to what interpretations can be made of his work and be able to see it in a new perspective other than his own, together they make up the complexity and beauty behind good literature. The writer in many ways also has to be a reader, as stressed in Foster’s book a lot of writing stems from other writing. This “intelligence” occurs when a reader sits down and really breaks down what the writer might be trying to convey through words, from there new ideas are formed and the reader either decides to use those ideas in his own writing or continues to use that knowledge while reading and making interpretations of other novels. It becomes a chain reaction where the reader and writer are in the same mindset and in a way are speaking their own language that only people who immerse themselves deeply in the literary world will be able to understand. Although reading and writing styles have changed over time, they have changed together, this suggests that the nature of this process all began when one person read a story then decided to write their own story but used their creative interpretations from the first person’s story to inspire their’s. That all sounds like a lot of processing and interpreting but that is just the beauty of it all, how one person has the power to change the way another thinks until the entire literary world works together as a well-oiled machine of readers and writers.
By Cady Lewis
Hi Cady,
ReplyDeleteI like this idea of a "chain reaction." I do think that in order for art to exist, there must be an audience. There is a name for this connection between reader and writer--Reader Response Theory. It seems to bear out and make sense to me. We are "co-conspirators" in the creation of text, art, meaning.
Mrs. Mac
This idea was just heatedly discussed at my family reunion, which resulted in a lengthy debate about who was more important in this collaborative connection. It was stated that many individuals could be readers, but only some would become writers. Writers are brave and have to be so in order to display such a sense of vulnerability required by the readers. Often writers who do not establish a "beautiful connection" are viewed as failures; however, what if the reader is to be blamed for a lack of perspective? Readers have a duty to the writer to approach the novel several ways before ruling it out as ineffective. Writing does not always have to be about enjoyment, but about expanding the audiences view point or knowledge on a subject.
DeleteThe reader and the writer go together because there would not be one without the other. If nobody could read, there would be no writers or stories. I like how you mentioned how the language and writing styles have changed through time because of how the reader was inspired by the previous story and decided to creatively change the story into their own. Reading and writing is a beautiful connection and the language between the reader and writer is so unique compared to how we talk in person. I also like how you mentioned how the writer needs to be a reader because the author can draw more connections from other stories and can create a deeper meaning to their own story.
ReplyDeleteI really do love this point that you've written about, it's one of my favorite things discussed by the author, and it holds so many different and wonderful implications. The first of these is that both the writer and the reader work together in their relationship to help enhance the experience of literature, which in many ways is a beautiful art form. I think that this is so interesting, and that it's comparable to other art forms as well: Visual artists look up to other artists for inspiration, and then more popular visual artists, which look to other visual artists who are more popular and so one. Furthermore, this literature and visual art and performing arts and so on all influence one another, and this relationship between reader and writer in comparable to different art forms and situations.
ReplyDeleteI liked the concept of starting your blog off with a tie between writer and reader. With them connected, it makes the process of what is interpreted from a piece of work easier to figure out. You did a nice job describing the way a reader and writer can come together and better both themselves, and one another. Like you said, the reader and writer are like a chunk of a chain reaction, they must build off one another to become successful. I thoroughly enjoyed the way you included the realization of how reading and writing styles have changed overtime because when writing would improve, reading was following right along.
ReplyDeleteCreative intelligence is an amazing definition to use in this sense of relationship between authors and readers. One thought comes to mind when reading this that says "it's a process of collaboration, collaboration is key" as not only does the reader find references through personal experiences, but it is really up to the writer to think of their readers in order to come up with key concepts to their writing as they need a source of attention, if the writer cannot come up with some way to entice their readers on an emotional level their readers will get confused, which eventually leads to a major loss in interest. So it's evident that above all else, the author-reader relationship is the most important issue to look at when reading and creating a story.
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