Dec 2020
23 / 24
Dec 2020
Dec 2020
therosesword
Dec '20

It depends on what you mean as "wrong."

Quite often people will form their own ideas regarding what a book is about and they'll put all their own personal agenda's into every nuance. If, at some point they're open minded enough to have someone explain what the book is really about, that's good. But most of the time they're not and they'll (possibly) recommend it to someone else as being about X and the other person will read it and find it's something entirely different. (this kind of thing happens with art all the time)

I find it funny (in an annoying way) when someone tells an author what they wrote and the author tries to set them straight but the person tells them they just don't know what they really wrote. I've actually seen some heated arguments like that with some pretty nasty trolling resulting from the reader going after the author.

WillowTree
Dec '20
artamazon

I do this a lot with fanfiction! If the tags leave me unsure on what kind of ending I can expect, I go to the last chapter and read the comments then skim the chapter to see if it has a happy ending or not. Especially if it's a longfic! I'm not reading 300k+ words just to have a sad/tragic ending!

elpenor
Dec '20

it's complicated. the relationship between the text and the audience and the author is one of the main foci of literary theory, and there are plenty of equally reasonable ideas about this. most commonly, you might hear about the "death of the author," which means that the text stands completely on its own and the audience wholly creates the meaning of the text through argumentation and textual evidence. but that's hardly the only theory, and several take into consideration the context of the text's creation and the context of the author's life. some use psychoanalysis, some use symbolism, some connect the text to a current context and claim that its meaning is fluid. some even give the author continued authority after the text is published, which is the exact opposite of the death of the author

I voted "no" because I'm post-structuralist, meaning I believe that the "meaning" of the text shifts regardless of the author's intentions and the most solid argument for the meaning of a text incorporates both phenomenology (the experience of the text) and structuralism (the systematic elements that inspired the text - in other words, the context). specifically, I tend to be a deconstructionist, which means that I think the fundamental ideological elements of a text are too complex to be reduced to simple dichotomies and fully-conscious human intent

man I haven't read a book in years

WillowTree
Dec '20

I don't think there's a wrong way to read a book.

If you're reading specifically with the mindset of trying to improve your writing, then there are better ways to read and focus on certain parts of stories, but just generally, no, there's no wrong way to do it :heart:

Undertaildoof34
Dec '20

Some people "there is no wrong way to read a book"
Me exists (i have dyslexia and sometimes ill read it and think someone wrote backwards. Its easer for me to read comics. But i even have trouble at times with them to.) So ill inturpert at times as times as or I like waffles as waffles like me......

gmaximin
Dec '20

If the question was “can audience read a book wrong?” I’d probably agree with @domisotto. Once the work is out there, words have a life on their own...

But as a reader, multiple reads of the same work sometimes bring different perspectives, even to the point that I thought to myself: “damn, I read that all wrong...”

domisotto
Dec '20

Changing opinions doesn't mean that one reading is necessarilly more valid than the other. The way one reads a book depends on how/who they are at that point in time...

gmaximin
Dec '20

Yep, so extending the logic, I know now that I’m never reading anything right (because that concept cannot exist)... but ok, not necessarily wrong either...

domisotto
Dec '20

Kind of? More of a live and let live, including to your past and future self, heh. In our days and times, I am always worried about Internet witch hunts in the matters of taste and opinion.

DokiDokiTsuna
Dec '20

In sci-fi (probably not just sci-fi, but that's where I live) there's a common problem of people reading/consuming these stories with blatant messages about imperialism, consumerism, discrimination, and individuality, and ignoring basically the entire plot in favor of 'spaceship go brrr'.
I would definitely say that is an example of reading a book wrong. T_T

Like, there's nothing wrong with liking spaceships and all the other sci-fi gilding; there isn't even anything wrong with enjoying it more than the story itself. But when you go as far as deciding that it's the only thing that actually matters, and the rest is just 'political junk' and 'up to interpretation' (9 times out of 10 the author's morals are pretty damn obvious) you've crossed a line. That's just cherrypicking, not reading.

NickRowler
Dec '20

What do you mean by "read"?

Do you mean the physical act of reading words? Or read as in "how one interrupts a story"?

Macarenaoftime
Dec '20

I don't know, depends on how you interpret it. ;v

therosesword
Dec '20
joannekwan

Can't help but think of House of Leaves. following those spiral texts, the pin holes leading to the next pages, the jumps between stories and the fake/real footnotes not to mention the different sized fonts changing color... oh what a ride

zhiluo00
Dec '20

If I don't like the first ten pages, I give up. I don't like to waste my time.

darthmongoose
Dec '20

Oh boy oh boy, I'm here to roll up with my English lit degree very excitedly because I so rarely get to discuss literary theory!

So, as far as literary circles are concerned, the answer is a resounding "NO." You cannot read a book incorrectly. BUT they would also say that if you cannot explain your reading with some kind of clear logic as to why, then your critical reading has no particular academic merit. ie "that's just your opinion, bro"

So for example, one popular "wrong" reading of Lord of the Rings is that it's an allegory for WWI and II, where a group of disparate allies band together to overcome this fascist force that's sweeping the world trying to put it under a single ruler, and even after winning, everyone's left sort of broken with this lingering melancholy, and the war and industrial revolution it brought has scarred the once pristine, pastoral land forever.
Tolkien swore down that while the bit about industry was an intentional allegory, and while Samwise's loyalty to Frodo was inspired by the bonds and loyalty of troops in the war, that his book was NOT intended as an allegory for the war, and that this was an incorrect reading.
BUT reading it this way is considered a very valid approach in literary academia, because you can clearly draw parallels, you can cite lots of academics who have made similar assertions, and you can frame it that while Tolkein never strictly intended the work to be an allegory, the war clearly shaped his consciousness and life so much that he perhaps unintentionally mirrored it in his work. I personally think this is a valid reading, speaking as somebody whose early pre-coming-out work wasn't intended to have homosexual subtext, but a lot of people read it that way and so weren't surprised when I realised I was gay and it had been leaking out into my work for years subconsciously. :rofl:

If, on the other hand, I made a really silly assertion like... errr... Okay, let's say "I think The Wind in the Willows is a retelling of the story of Calligula!" most academics will look at you expectantly for what kind of Galaxy Brain explanation you're going to pull out on this one, because it sure as hell doesn't seem probable that this was the writer's intention in this extremely wholesome collection of children's stories that in no way shape or form seems to mirror the characters or narrative structure of Shakespeare's worst and edgiest play. Nobody can tell you this is a "wrong" reading... but it certainly is unlikely to be seen as a "good" reading that gives insight into either the book, the nature of humanity or art or all three, unless you legitimately do find some critical quotes that somehow support this and actually do write a galaxy brain essay that makes the connection make absolute sense, in which case, go and do a Phd in literature like RIGHT NOW.

Macarenaoftime
Dec '20

That's interesting! It's just like arguments that can't be proven true or false but can be proven valid or invalid.
I usually struggle to understand literary theory, but the way you explained it was easy to follow and fun to read.

Man, I really missed tapas forums and writing in general.

therosesword
Dec '20
zhiluo00

So I'm not the only one!

Although, now and then there will be one little nugget that draws me in for a few more pages. Not often, but it does happen occasionally.