<<My main question here is, where does that leave Salinger's unread manuscripts? Can a text truly be "written" if no one is around to read it (kind of a spin on the tree-falling-in-the-woods question)? I'm not sure where I stand on this question, but I'm leaning toward "NO." I mean, I've written dozens of crappy stories and poems that no one has ever read, and to me those stories are dead. They have not been given life by the reader, so they just end up being words without meaning.>> Well, that's just it. Every text has at least one reader--the author. The author becomes the reader after the text is done. Jim Absolutely, Jim. That's the necssary editing that a writer must do. I think it is the author, not the reader that gives a particular piece "life". When there is another reader, it only becomes a shared life. Oh, and I'm reading you, Akemi Namaste, Thor ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com