When initially looking at the title or the article, my instant thoughts were that the author would write the article so that it answers the question of her title in an indirect way. I knew that it wasn't going to be a simple answer or one that was going to be easy to understand. Thought by the end of the last few pages in the article, it was clear that everything in the article, even starting with the title was a hidden example of how we (as readers) read books. With predictions and assumptions, with hope and guidance, with imagination that allows us to often see the reading rather than follow a message. She says, “Chapters of a novel—if we consider how to read a novel first—are an attempt to make something as formed and controlled as a building: but words are more impalpable than bricks; reading is a longer and more complicated process than seeing”. (Woolfe, 2)
Often we get lost in the authors world of fiction or sometimes non-fiction and it become difficult to compare their message to our own lives. From the beginning, she explains, “even if I could answer the question for myself, the answer would apply only to me and not to you.” (Woolfe, 1) If every author would write such direct phrases to their readers, the novel and the reader’s interpretation may be completely different in the end. How far can the author’s life influence the way the book is related back to the reader?
~Mija Saracevic
Mia, your last question is very interesting and one we'll talk about this semester. Should we take into consideration facts and information about the author? Does it matter what the author meant to do? good job!
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