Re: How do YOU read?
KEN GOODMAN (KGOODMAN who-is-at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU)
Fri, 15 Dec 1995 09:15:56 -0700 (MST)
Gordon-
As you may know I see all reading as a transaction between reader and text
in which a parallel text-and meaning is constructed by the reader. The
reader of course can never have direct access to what the writer is intending
as meaning. That doesn't mean we aren't as readers trying to understand what
the writer is trying to say to us. I find as you do that I am resisting
what I believe the author is saying when I have strong disagreements- or even
minor ones with the author. And I probably learn as much- or at least clarify
my own thinking- in reading in this disputational manor.
One problem with reading as assignments in school or college is that the reader
is, quite understandably, at least as much concerned with what the teacher
believes is the meaning the author is intending as with understanding the author.
I an always intrigued when
I read an interpretation of my own writing by a
writer with a sharply different point of view. At first I used to think
"How can this person have so twisted my meaning? It must bbe deliberate!"
Now I take each instance as more proof of my reading model- that meaning
is always constructed by the reader.
Ken Goodman