MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Misleading Metaphors That Drive The War On Online Sharing

anamardoll · 12-01-2011, 12:06 PM

I'm interested in this idea that the author's "intended experience" is somehow sacred.

You see / saw this with the Harry Potter eBook discussions, how Rowling was supposedly (according to the PR) fixated on ensuring that each reader have "the same experience".

Experiences are subjective. No reader has ever had "the same experience" as every other reader. If there was ONE copy of a book printed, and people could only come to that book from that one copy, they still would not have the same experience. Some readers would experience the book a certain way based on their eyesight, or their allergies, or their previous exposure to each written word's definitive and connotative meanings.

I personally think the very idea that the author can and should mandate the reader's experience or how the reader can approach the text is laughable. I see it on the same level as saying that authors should control when the tide comes in because it hurts their feelings if they don't. Good luck with warping reality to fit your narcissism, Hypothetical Author.

But, ah, that's my two cents.

12-01-2011, 12:06 PM	#425
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	I'm interested in this idea that the author's "intended experience" is somehow sacred. You see / saw this with the Harry Potter eBook discussions, how Rowling was supposedly (according to the PR) fixated on ensuring that each reader have "the same experience". Experiences are subjective. No reader has ever had "the same experience" as every other reader. If there was ONE copy of a book printed, and people could only come to that book from that one copy, they still would not have the same experience. Some readers would experience the book a certain way based on their eyesight, or their allergies, or their previous exposure to each written word's definitive and connotative meanings. I personally think the very idea that the author can and should mandate the reader's experience or how the reader can approach the text is laughable. I see it on the same level as saying that authors should control when the tide comes in because it hurts their feelings if they don't. Good luck with warping reality to fit your narcissism, Hypothetical Author. But, ah, that's my two cents.