The Way to Read

[tartarusrussell]

Hi Des,

Your idea of looking at pictures and imagining what they would mean to you if they had been on your bedroom wall for years appeals to me, and it should work for all kinds of art. I'm in sympathy with the idea because it is similar to the way in which I used to look at old houses. When I first moved to the city (Sheffield) in the 1980s I used to wander around the suburbs (especially of a Sunday morning, very early) and imagine what different houses would mean to me if I had been brought up in them. I'd construct stories to account for the details I'd see.

For music I often close my eyes and conjure images and daydreams, which is a direct result of being an impressionable teenager when videos suddenly became popular. I'd imagine and direct videos in my head while listening to music. I assume everybody does this to a certain extent.

But reading, I think, is rather different. If you and I read the same couple of sentences then there is every chance that what we imagine visually will be quite different. But the author will direct the action and force us into very similar directions whether we like it or not. (There again, it is amazing how differently some people can interpret the same book.) Really good, engaging authors, of course, create characters and situations that continue off the page, even when the story is ended...