Re: I'll tell you what it's all about....
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sun, 22 Nov 1998 14:10:30 +1100
> But Camille, a blind woman doesn't know what a snake looks like, or what
> a tree looks like.
That's *completely* missing the point. That's as if to say that because a
person has never seen a tree or a snake, then a tree or a snake doesn't
exist for them, which is obviously totally false!
What I mean is ... we all connect with different aspects of texts. We all
interpret them a different way. When I say that we `collectively enact' a
text, I mean that the only way those blind women can work out exactly what
an elephant is is by each expressing their experience of it, and together
forming something approaching a `real' elephant. Obviously an elephant is
nothing like a snake or a tree - but aspects of it *are*. Our perceptions
of a text can be as incomplete as those isolated views of the blind women.
A text is formed in the same way - a character for example - let's say
Seymour. Imagine a big white human shaped statue. Then imagine that all our
perceptions of Seymour are each a ray of light. Then, as we stand around
this statue projecting our perceptions onto it, something approaching a
`whole' and realistic Seymour stands before us. This is what I mean by
`collective enactment'.
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest