On Being a Reader

[pawsoned]

On the one hand epochè or suspending one's judgement helps in our development and understanding of the author, on the other hand bringing our imagination into play and infusing the text with thought of our own enriches and enlivens the process of reading. So, as usual, I stick with the golden mean.

[Debordsbullet]

I don't disagree with the beginning quote, but I would warn one to be diligent in doing so...'Readings' of the Critique of Pure reason kind of turned me into a Kantian for a little while...yeashhh.

[natedaug1]

Good once again. Two things if you do the weakest argument that is the "straw man," fallacy, and also in philosophy there is the "principle of charity." These are both relevant, I think.

[FlaviaSantosbr]

@CosmicSisyphus What is is to be "true to the text" in a literary book?

[FlaviaSantosbr]

I don't quite agree with the fact we have to read as if the author were there. It seems as if we had to understand exactly what the author wanted us to understand when he wrote the book. The thing is: such thing really happens when we're reading a scientif book, once it is almost impossible to come up with very different interpretations in this kind of book. But, in a literary book, things are quite different. It doesn't have a definite message. We read literature from our subjectivity.

[MaLongTaiji]

in other words, "don't jump to conclusions"? that's how I would summarize your monologue. Some texts just may not be worth the time to re-read and be fully understood, that's the problem of writing in general. That's the part where the author has a responsibility to our critical sensibilities, if he or she is not satisfying them, then he looses the opportunity to convey a coherent message.

[skngd9293]

Good point. :)

[MarxFTW]

David Harvey, who has taught Marx's "Capital" for 40 years, claims to still learn new things from it.

[Anarch0tec]

Fuck Yeah. One of the best authentic videos I've seen in a long time.

[dowdfather]

Also, a good critique doesn't necessarily destroy or otherwise tear down an author's arguments, it builds upon them and makes them stronger/better.

[BEG65]

Your comments on reading evoke Walter Ong's dissertation's thesis on monologism and print's decaying of dialogue. "Critical" reading is understood, always, as explicitly dialogic, even dialectical. In granting to a text and its authorial voice control over meaning-making, you are suggesting the kind of monologism that Ong saw as a product of the print revolution (in combination with the development of the essay form). Dangerous? Thanks for jump-starting an internal dialogue this morning.

[modemusicman]

Is there any element of danger by saying everything can be solved within the words as to how they might be comprehended? Professor, is it possible you just seek words that confirm your point of view? What do you think of donotgod? Vs. the branding of "I"

[TWITfromURANUS]

thanks

*****

faved

[BreakingTheBanality]

thank you professor!

[clearshquarter]

books on how elbows work, how to change a babies diaper, shadows under rocks or shadows on the ground....... a skin-head's manifesto? ...the ladder even more i would think, empathetic revivalism, fantasy flooring and foundationalism!

[ANgelieTan]

I agree. ^^

[9macrina9]

There are books I will never finish reading...and some poems by T.S. Elliot...re-reading your book is part of the deal......and I am typing to the author...isn't that amazing? Excellent, Corey thank you.

[Professoranton]

Hey Mary,

Thanks for the support. Wishing you all the best,

Corey

[McGarnicle13]

Great tips prof!