“Good Readers and Good Writers” is Vladimir Nabokov’s depiction of the truly gifted reader and writer, and what characteristics they possess that earn them that title. Nabokov suggests that in order to be considered a truly gifted reader you must have the ability to step outside of yourself, and your preconceived ideas about the world, and enter into the world that the author has created for you. Authors are artists akin to potters and painters, except, for the fact that the art that they create cannot be seen. Instead, the art of the author is experienced through the reader’s imagination. Therefore, Nabokov believes it is important that the reader has a truly unbiased imagination not drawing from past experiences of their own. Nabokov also states that a good reader pays attention to details and understands that all books are individual creations and generalizing would be unfair to the author. I believe that a good reader is someone who truly appreciates the work of the author. Although, I have never given much thought to the feelings of an author, I do believe that Nabokov is correct to an extent. I agree that a good reader dives into the world that the author has created. I also agree that a good reader pays attention to details and the underlying story between the lines of the text. However, I believe that as human beings our past experiences shape the person we are. When listening to music or taking in a work of art each person sees or hears something different depending on their own personal experiences. To somehow separate our imagination from who we are as a person is impossible. I believe that by publishing a book, the author does so knowing that it is going to be interpreted in many different ways. An authentic good reader is not unattached and aloof like Nabokov suggests. A genuine good reader becomes attached to the point of living the story with the characters. I can trace my love of reading back to my earliest memories of going to the library with my mom. I love to read, and it is my experience that to be good at something you must love it. When I am reading I take my time, get to know the characters and live the events along with them. I believe that total immersion into a body of text is the job of the reader and my ability to do so makes me a good reader. For more information on the life and works of Vladmir Nabokov click
here.
I am glad you were able to take some validity out of Nabokov's article that works for you. I disagree with you slightly and find that what Nabokov states about how we need to read, if we are to read well, is to approach reading as he instructs (aloofness, reading without incorporating our own worldly bias, viewing it like a painting, ect). We can love our story, our characters, the settings, but to truly grasp the fullness of the authors vision, we must separate ourselves from our reality and enter the realm of the master enchanter. The most important thing he mentions that I noticed you had not is a good reader needs "imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense." We can all agree with him on that, whether we agree with him or disagree. I am glad you like to read as much as I do and its good since we are in a English course! I find it interesting that you immerse yourself into your readings! I have such a hard time doing so if I don't find common ground with the author, but am now trying to relearn how to read. Feel weird saying that, but when I don't get "in" the book, I just read it remembering big details and forgetting the small. Thank you for sharing your ideas with us, and best of luck to you for the rest of the semester! Have a great week.
ReplyDelete-David H.
"To somehow separate our imagination from who we are as a person is impossible."
ReplyDeleteI don't agree, actually. I think you are absolutely correct that we carry our own perceptions into the author's world, but to truly grasp what the author or artist is creating we must comprehend his world on HIS terms, not ours. We can certainly translate that message into concepts that fit our reality, but the point is to not garble the message in the first place.
As an example of my point, part of the difficulty in, say, religion is the many interpretations of sacred text and theological doctrines, as well as the nearly impossible task of true believers of one faith understanding the doctrines of other faiths. This difficulty lies in their inability (or unwillingness) to set aside their preconceived notions and truly attempt to understand what the other side is saying.
Enter the writer's world, and leave the mental baggage behind,...that's my motto when I pick him a book.;)
James Carr
I definitely agree with many of the things that you stated in your blog. Having the ability to step outside of yourself while reading a novel was something that I had not thought about. Being able to step out of your comfort zone with an open mind when reading is very important. However, I didn't see anything about imagination, memory, artisc sense, and a dictionary. Everything that you wrote was very well written, and I agree with it all, but I don't think you covered all of Nabokov's main points, as well as talking about his interpretation of a good writer. Very well written though! :)
ReplyDelete-Taylor Ivie
Nice blog. I do agree with your feling that that a good reader pays attention to details and the underlying story between the lines of the text. A good author has a way of playing out an underlying story that a reader who is reading too quickly and not truely understanding what they are reading could miss. I do not agree with you that a good reader has to truly appreciate the work of the author. It may be a trait of a good writer that they can understand and get the full affect of the authors thought without having to also truly appreciate the author.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with David and James with most of what they said.
ReplyDeleteIt's completely easy (IMHO) to separate myself from the world around me and instead be lost in the artists imagination. Part of what is so beautiful about a work of art is that it can in fact remove you from your preconceived notions and put you in a different world. I believe, however, that is only half of the equation
I believe that Nabokov is also asking us to step into a new world with and explorers mindset. When settlers first ventured into the wilderness to crate new homes and found new lands they were lost in a completely foreign world. They brought with them some worldly ideas but it was the scientist and scholar in them that allowed them to learn from that world and settle. They accepted that new world on its terms and then became a part of it.
I think this same kind of idea can be placed in the context of exploring a new text.
This was a great post btw and I enjoyed reading it. Looking forward to more over the coming months.
I agree a lot with the fact that when someone really starts to get into a book, they don't disconnect themselves with their lives and completely use their imagination. Instead, they relate the book to their lives. However, I think to some extent we use our imaginations just by themselves, but you're definitely right about the fact that we all look at a piece of writing differently depending on how how we relate to it and in that we bring in our past experiences.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bekah and some of the other posts, but I do think that we use our imaginations differently. Our whole class could read the same description of a character or setting and all have different pictures in our minds in how we perceive them. Even if the author gives great detail, the reader will always look at something different in their minds as how we relate to it and that we will bring in our past experiences in some way.
ReplyDeleteI think this post is excellent and well written. I think you depicted Nabokov's ideas accurately and expressed your own as well. Nabokov's reasoning for why a reader should put aside all previous experiences to dive into the world the author has created is a great way to read. However, I agree more with your statement that it is near impossible to do that because removing ourselves from are experiences is disconnecting from who we are. Your description and representation of your own ideas as well as Nabokov's makes me more interested in the topic having read your post. Once again, well written!
ReplyDelete