Authors, critics, readers...

Abra (abra@post6.tele.dk)
Fri, 20 Nov 1998 00:27:47 +0100

J J R wrote:

> CS Lewis is another one of my favorite authors, and he's one of those
> rare birds that is both an accomplished literary critic AND a successful
> fiction writer.  He's written essays about reading book reviews that
> speculated on the intersection between Lewis's life and his fiction
> work--how he let one influence the other.  He said, without exception,
> the book reviewers were wrong.  I mean, they NEVER guessed right.  He
> didn't know if he was the rule or the exception, but I thought it was an
> interesting observation.

Hehe... Well, Iīm not saying I know anything about anyone, just that 
you read stuff and choose to believe some of it, whether itīs true or 
not... 

> It's a worthless enterprise, to me, to try to second guess authors in
> that way.  I'd rather just pay close attention to what they wrote :)

Iīm not familiar with the expression "second guess", but I suppose you 
mean that youīd rather just read the work and get your own meanings from 
it, than try to compare with someone impression of the author??? In 
that case we totally agree... 

After reading all of JDS published work (I think) I read a biography 
(unofficial of course)... I didnīt learn much about him other than the 
fact that he seeks no attention (to put it mildly)... But I still 
love his stories... I donīt know which I like the most, though... The 
Glass-stories are truly amazing - reading one after another gave me the 
impression of reading a documentary... 

On the other hand I was also very fond of 9 Stories... I didnīt understand 
them all, but I didnīt have a need for that either... They sort of reminded 
me of Twin Peaks or something... Come to think of it - David Lynch could be 
a JDS-fan... 

Abra