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Old 05-05-2011, 10:25 AM   #41
caleb72
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlorenceArt View Post
On the other hand, there is nothing that annoys me more, at least in fiction, than a book that lays out everything clearly before me, taking care to leave nothing to my interpretation or imagination. This kind of book is perfectly understandable, and very bad literature. Because literature, and any kind of art, requires two people, a writer and a reader, an artist and a spectator, and the spectator cannot be passive, he has to put some of his own life into the work, otherwise it will stay a dead thing: a bunch of printed pages, or a canvas with some color on it. There has to be some room for the reader/spectator to breathe, to invent the work.
I'm not sure if I agree with that. Is there such a thing as a book that leaves nothing to interpretation or imagination? Maybe I'm not imaginative enough to picture a book where I could be completely passive even in the pulp spectrum of fiction.

That said, I'm slightly annoyed by 1984 by George Orwell for the very reason that his book requires very little active involvement from me. Not satisfied that I might be able to discern the message of the book, it's spelled out to me, spelled out again and, just when I think the lecture is over, it's spelled out again. This guy would have made an excellent Hollywood producer.

I do tend towards the Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror, but this year I've started trying to put some "literature" on my dance card. I do like discussing books with people and one of the aspects of this forum that I liked instantly was that I could discuss books with other readers and even authors.

Regards
Caleb
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