from 5 Readers Reading
"I learned that people's responses to literature involved a transformation by means of forms acting like defenses, of drives, impulses, and fantasies back and forth from the most primitive strata of psychic life to the highest. ...literature-as-transformation, which in turn made it possible to explain a number of literary phenomena such as meaning, realism, the relation of the author's personality to his work, the role of embedded myths, the criteria behind evaluation, and so on.
...psychological processes like fantasies or defenses do not happen in books but in people. Within that framework, one can see five readers who are the subjects of this book re-create the original literary creation in terms of their own personalities, themselves understood as continuing processes of transformation." (Note: see his Poems in Persons)
paraphrased:
Reading mingles person and thing and person and person, opening up the intrapsychic to an interpsychic model of psychology.
What is that ineffable effect of personality on perception? That is the issue.
Literary critic, Stanley Edgar Hyman, once said, "Each reader poems his own poem."
"...readers read to fit their personalities."
paraphrased:
Psychoanalysis is the science of human individuality and literary response when understood as individualistic becomes less than ideal for repeatable experiments. (Hence, the lack of verifiable data when it comes to bibliotherapy.)
(See Caroline Shrodes and David Beich as examples of individual responses to particular literary works and the therapeutic process. Bleich, specifically proposes that by analyzing what the readers find in the text, one comes to understand the text.)
"Who reads what how?" the basic question of this book.
some modifiers omitted and pronouns added for brevity gender equality:
"The work begins in the psychological dynamics of its author, and the act of creating it fulfills those processes--for him (or her). The work finds its fulfillment when a reader gives it life by re-creating the work his (or her) own mind. The text vanishes in the variability of different readers' re-creation of it. ...any given reader's mind will not coincide with the author's processes, nor will one reader's experience match another's and even the same reader will respond differently at different times in his (or her) life."
Meaning, making sense of a text, works as a defense against some source of anxiety the way a dreamer create a sense of unity from disparate parts of a dream. ...ie, each reader will search out a unifying idea that matches his (or her) particular need for sense and logic.
...writers create by transforming unconscious wishes from childhood. Most people who are not creative writers (or artists) know this transformational process best through dreams.
Both writers and readers use stories to transform primitive, infantile fantasies toward adult themes.
"...each reader creates from the literary work a psychological process in him (or her) self."
"The work lives its own life within me," says Georges Poulet; "in a certain sense, it thinks itself, and it even gives itself a meaning within me." (i.e., We share a common consciousness with the protagonist and author.)
Proust said: In reality, each reader reads only what is already within himself. The book is only a sort of optical instrument which the writer offers to the reader to enable the latter to discover in himself what he would not have found but for the aid of the book.
from The Brain of Robert Frost
paraphrased unless in quotes; parentheses generally indicate my own input
Reading is an individual act as well as an activity shared by an "interpretive community."
"We can imagine writing as reading plus."
We receive both cognitive and emotional returns from the text (whether reading it or writing it) which we then compare with our inner standards, functions of our identities, whether personal or part of our cultural canon.
Identity is what one brings to new experiences and is what is created by those same experiences.
aka a feedback loop.
By making your imagery and metaphors available, you open up a way of self-knowledge and self-change.
Making the reader the active one instead of the text, marks a profound change it literary theory (which is still predominantly white, male, middle class.)
What is the authority of a text if it does not control our response to it?
Robert Frost says in "At Woodward's Gardens," "It's knowing what to do with things that counts."
Through reading we re-create our personal identities by closing feedback loops while adding to our experience of our own identity. We grow and change. (Open system, receive hypothesis, feedback aka accept or reject, close system, repeat.)
"We need to listen to ourselves and the fictions we are subscribing to. If we do, we can improve the metaphors with which we have been describing ourselves to ourselves..."
from Holland's Guide to Psychoanalytic psychology and Literature-and-psychology
One should be mindful of the view widely held today that psychoanalysis is not a science, but a hermeneutic, a system for interpreting texts--language.
For Jung, the personal unconscious consists of memories and images (imagos) collected in the course of an individual life. The collective unconscious, on the other hand, is limited to the imposition of structural laws--archetypes. The personal unconscious is like a lexicon where each of us accumulates an individual vocabulary, but these lexical units acquire value and significance only in so far as they are archetypally structured. ...(if) structures are fundamentally the same for all personalities then to understand and interpret a literary text psychologically it is necessary to analyze the unconscious structure underlying the text itself. This is the model used in traditional Jungian criticism. ...Jung's method is known as "amplification" and extends Freud's concept of free association to include the cultural canon. ...questioning the naive literal level of language and image (imago) in order to expose its more shadowy, metaphorical significance.
Object Relations school of thought includes D.W. Winnicott's interest in the potential space between artist and work of art and between work of art and audience.
Lacan theorizes that the self is a "psychologizing," reactionary fiction that begins in the Mirror Stage with an unrealizable ideal of an autonomous self. Lacan sees the individual as fragmented and alienated by language, culture and the Other and has been influential in feminist theory.
Monday, May 09, 2016
Sunday, May 08, 2016
University of Rochester Movie Therapy intervention
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SULfxYwzcg
Talking over the movie together is the key to couples movie therapy working.
Just watching something together doesn't do it.
Plus, as with books, the right movie at the right time.
Talking over the movie together is the key to couples movie therapy working.
Just watching something together doesn't do it.
Plus, as with books, the right movie at the right time.
Thursday, May 05, 2016
School of Life in Australia
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/04/ask-a-bibliotherapist-how-books-can-help-soothe-troubled-minds
Sunday, May 01, 2016
PICTURES THAT TICK
by Dave McKean
quote
[I make these thoughts into tangible objects]
and drain them of their potential energy
quote
[I make these thoughts into tangible objects]
and drain them of their potential energy
Friday, April 29, 2016
The Reading Agency, funded by Arts Council England
Reading Well Mood-boosting Books
Reading Well Books on Prescription
Reading Groups for Everyone
The Reader Organisation
Society of Chief Librarians' (SCL) new Universal Offer strategy
The new English scheme has the backing of the Royal Colleges of GPs, Nursing and Psychiatry, the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies and of the Department of Health through its Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme. We've been working on this area since the late 1990s, and this current phase of the work is funded by Arts Council England.The new era Reading Well Books on Prescription builds on some fantastic English local schemes and on the successful Welsh approach developed by Professor Neil Frude. Having one shared scheme with the backing of major health partners is a big step forward for libraries at a crucial time when responsibility for public health comes over to local authorities.
For the first time the scheme will come under a Reading Well banner which also encourages people to use novels, poetry and reading groups to feel better. Our Mood Boosting Books initiative helps thousands of readers share recommendations for uplifting books. People will also be encouraged to join a reading group through their library and at Reading Groups for Everyone, a website which helps people find and join groups, including those run by partner charity, The Reader Organisation.
Interactive Bibliotherapy
http://www.sgsmith.org/what-is-interactive-bibliotherapy.html
resources from S.G. Smith, PhD
Social and Psychological Benefits of Reading
Therapeutic Writing
Pennebaker, J.W., & Evans, J. (2014). Expressive Writing: Words that Heal. Idyll Arbor Books.
This book presents reader-friendly research explaining how writing can often be more helpful than talking when dealing with emotional upheaval.
The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions
Pennebaker, J.W. (1997). Opening up: The healing power of expressing emotions. New York: Guilford Press.
This book presents evidence that personal self-disclosure has both emotional and physical health benefits.
resources from S.G. Smith, PhD
Articles
The articles on this page offer an introduction to bibliotherapy and the benefits of reading and writing.
Social and Psychological Benefits of Reading
How Reading Transforms Us
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/opinion/sunday/how-writing-transforms-us.html
This article, by Keith Oatley and Maja Djikic, summarizes recent research exploring how literary art changes the way one thinks about themselves. The intensity of emotion, experienced by fiction readers, as well as the perception of whether a literary selection is artistic, appear to be significant factors in the alterations observed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/opinion/sunday/how-writing-transforms-us.html
This article, by Keith Oatley and Maja Djikic, summarizes recent research exploring how literary art changes the way one thinks about themselves. The intensity of emotion, experienced by fiction readers, as well as the perception of whether a literary selection is artistic, appear to be significant factors in the alterations observed.
For Better Social Skills, Scientists Recommend a Little Chekhov
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre-feeling-i-read-chekhov/
This article describes a study, published in the journal Science, indicating that literary fiction is significantly more effective than popular fiction or serious non-fiction in increasing readers’ empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence. This was true even when subjects said they did not enjoy literary fiction as much. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre-feeling-i-read-chekhov/
This article describes a study, published in the journal Science, indicating that literary fiction is significantly more effective than popular fiction or serious non-fiction in increasing readers’ empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence. This was true even when subjects said they did not enjoy literary fiction as much. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed.
A Personal Experience of Bibliotherapy
http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/geek-odysseys-book-loving-in-london
Alexandra Redgrave describes her experience of a bibliotherapy session in London.
The Imagined and the Real
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-psychology-fiction/201204/the-imagined-and-the-real
This is a summary of studies in which brain scans are used to understand how fiction is processed.
Books as a Way to Read One’s Self
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-psychology-fiction/201205/books-friends
This is a brief reminder of the role literature can play in magnifying the reader’s ability to know their own mind.
Liking for Stories
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-psychology-fiction/201201/liking-stories
Keith Oatley discusses why people like some novels but not others.
http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/geek-odysseys-book-loving-in-london
Alexandra Redgrave describes her experience of a bibliotherapy session in London.
The Imagined and the Real
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-psychology-fiction/201204/the-imagined-and-the-real
This is a summary of studies in which brain scans are used to understand how fiction is processed.
Books as a Way to Read One’s Self
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-psychology-fiction/201205/books-friends
This is a brief reminder of the role literature can play in magnifying the reader’s ability to know their own mind.
Liking for Stories
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-psychology-fiction/201201/liking-stories
Keith Oatley discusses why people like some novels but not others.
Therapeutic Writing
Writing Your Way to Happiness
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/writing-your-way-to-happiness/
This article surveys studies reflecting the benefits of writing. Research has shown that writing and then editing personal stories can result in positive behavioral changes and improve happiness.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/writing-your-way-to-happiness/
This article surveys studies reflecting the benefits of writing. Research has shown that writing and then editing personal stories can result in positive behavioral changes and improve happiness.
Writing as Therapy
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sideways-view/201308/writing-therapy
Adrian Furnham discusses the therapeutic value of writing in examining the past from various angles, seeing cause and effect, understanding psychological processes, and ultimately feeling more understood.
Why Write Poetry?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/one-true-thing/201401/jane-hirshfield-why-write-poetry
In an interview, poet Jane Hirshfield discusses the psychological process of writing poetry.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sideways-view/201308/writing-therapy
Adrian Furnham discusses the therapeutic value of writing in examining the past from various angles, seeing cause and effect, understanding psychological processes, and ultimately feeling more understood.
Why Write Poetry?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/one-true-thing/201401/jane-hirshfield-why-write-poetry
In an interview, poet Jane Hirshfield discusses the psychological process of writing poetry.
Books
Expressive WritingPennebaker, J.W., & Evans, J. (2014). Expressive Writing: Words that Heal. Idyll Arbor Books.
This book presents reader-friendly research explaining how writing can often be more helpful than talking when dealing with emotional upheaval.
The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions
Pennebaker, J.W. (1997). Opening up: The healing power of expressing emotions. New York: Guilford Press.
This book presents evidence that personal self-disclosure has both emotional and physical health benefits.
Macleans article on bibliotherapy
http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/the-healing-power-of-books/
University of Liverpool, professor Philip Davis runs an M.A. in Reading in Practice.
University of Liverpool, professor Philip Davis runs an M.A. in Reading in Practice.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
literature-interaction which may be utilized for personal assessment, adjustment, and growth
Bibliotherapy for adults is a form of self-administered treatment in
which structured materials provide a means to alleviate distress.
The concept of the treatment is based on the human inclination to
identify with others through their expressions in literature and art.
Fictional bibliotherapy (e.g., novels, poetry) is a dynamic process, where material is actively interpreted in light of the reader's circumstances. From a psychodynamic perspective, fictional materials are believed to be effective through the processes of identification, catharsis and insight. Through identification with a character in the story the reader gains an alternative position from which to view their own issues. By empathizing with the character the client undergoes a form of catharsis through gaining hope and releasing emotional tension, which consequently leads to insights and behavioral change.
After the term bibliotherapy was coined by Samuel Crothers in an August 1916 Atlantic Monthly article, it eventually found its way into the medical lexicon. By the 1920s there were training programs in bibliotherapy. One of the first to offer such training was the School of Library Science at Western Reserve University followed by a program at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. Hospital librarians were at the forefront of bibliotherapy techniques. E. Kathleen Jones, the editor of the book series Hospital Libraries, was the library administrator for the McLean Hospital in Massachusetts. This influential work was first published in 1923, and then updated in 1939, and then 1953. Pioneer librarian Sadie Peterson Delaney used bibliotherapy in her work at the VA Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama from 1924 to her death in 1958. Elizabeth Pomeroy, director of the Veterans Administration Library Service, published the results of her research in 1937 on the efficacy of bibliotherapy at VA hospitals.
The United Kingdom, beginning in the 1930s, also began to show growth in the use in of reading therapy in hospital libraries. Charles Hagberg-Wright, librarian of the London Library, speaking at the 1930 British Empire Red Cross Conference, spoke about the importance of bibliotherapy as part of "curative medicine" in hospitals. In addition, reports from the 1930 Public Health Conference about bibliotherapy were included in the British journal Lancet.
With hospitals taking the lead, bibliotherapy principles and practice developed in the United States. In the United Kingdom, it should be noted, some felt that bibliotherapy lagged behind the US and Joyce Coates, writing in the Library Association Record, felt that "the possibilities of bibliotherapy have yet to be fully explored" .
In 1966, the Association of Hospital and Institution Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, issued a working definition of bibliotherapy in recognition of its growing influence. Then in the 1970s, Arleen McCarty Hynes, a proponent for the use of bibliotherapy, created the "Bibliotherapy Round Table" which sponsored lectures and publication dedicated to the practice.
from Wikipedia
Fictional bibliotherapy (e.g., novels, poetry) is a dynamic process, where material is actively interpreted in light of the reader's circumstances. From a psychodynamic perspective, fictional materials are believed to be effective through the processes of identification, catharsis and insight. Through identification with a character in the story the reader gains an alternative position from which to view their own issues. By empathizing with the character the client undergoes a form of catharsis through gaining hope and releasing emotional tension, which consequently leads to insights and behavioral change.
After the term bibliotherapy was coined by Samuel Crothers in an August 1916 Atlantic Monthly article, it eventually found its way into the medical lexicon. By the 1920s there were training programs in bibliotherapy. One of the first to offer such training was the School of Library Science at Western Reserve University followed by a program at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. Hospital librarians were at the forefront of bibliotherapy techniques. E. Kathleen Jones, the editor of the book series Hospital Libraries, was the library administrator for the McLean Hospital in Massachusetts. This influential work was first published in 1923, and then updated in 1939, and then 1953. Pioneer librarian Sadie Peterson Delaney used bibliotherapy in her work at the VA Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama from 1924 to her death in 1958. Elizabeth Pomeroy, director of the Veterans Administration Library Service, published the results of her research in 1937 on the efficacy of bibliotherapy at VA hospitals.
The United Kingdom, beginning in the 1930s, also began to show growth in the use in of reading therapy in hospital libraries. Charles Hagberg-Wright, librarian of the London Library, speaking at the 1930 British Empire Red Cross Conference, spoke about the importance of bibliotherapy as part of "curative medicine" in hospitals. In addition, reports from the 1930 Public Health Conference about bibliotherapy were included in the British journal Lancet.
With hospitals taking the lead, bibliotherapy principles and practice developed in the United States. In the United Kingdom, it should be noted, some felt that bibliotherapy lagged behind the US and Joyce Coates, writing in the Library Association Record, felt that "the possibilities of bibliotherapy have yet to be fully explored" .
In 1966, the Association of Hospital and Institution Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, issued a working definition of bibliotherapy in recognition of its growing influence. Then in the 1970s, Arleen McCarty Hynes, a proponent for the use of bibliotherapy, created the "Bibliotherapy Round Table" which sponsored lectures and publication dedicated to the practice.
from Wikipedia
Harris County Public Library in Houston, Bibliotherapeutic Readers' Advisory BOOK HUNTERS
http://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2015/7/21/bibliotherapy-or-why-we-still-need-libraries
HCPL started its Book Hunters program in November of 2010 and in the time since, librarians have compiled more than 5,000 recommendations. About 50 librarians work as reading list consultants.
The HCPL form includes questions around likes and dislikes, allows you to select genre and book format (e-book, audiobook, print) and book length (short, medium, long). It also allows readers to request books along a sliding scale of sensibilities including humor (a lot, a little, none or don’t care) sex, violence, obscene language, pace, mood and more. It’s a pretty complex form that allows librarians to really dial into what their readers might want. That profile then gets matched to a librarian whose interests align with the reader.
“We’re matchmaking,” Stevens said. “Just like the librarian is matching you to a book, we’re also matching you to a librarian.”
Online user form:
http://www.hcpl.net/form/book-hunters-your-personal-reading-consultants
“We’ve offered this service for seven or eight years, and last year we decided to revamp the form to make it shorter and easier to fill out. Since then the popularity of the service has skyrocketed,” Kadir said. Libraries have actually seen a resurgence in usage as the popularity of e-reading devices has grown, since library members can borrow e-books for free.
HCPL started its Book Hunters program in November of 2010 and in the time since, librarians have compiled more than 5,000 recommendations. About 50 librarians work as reading list consultants.
The HCPL form includes questions around likes and dislikes, allows you to select genre and book format (e-book, audiobook, print) and book length (short, medium, long). It also allows readers to request books along a sliding scale of sensibilities including humor (a lot, a little, none or don’t care) sex, violence, obscene language, pace, mood and more. It’s a pretty complex form that allows librarians to really dial into what their readers might want. That profile then gets matched to a librarian whose interests align with the reader.
“We’re matchmaking,” Stevens said. “Just like the librarian is matching you to a book, we’re also matching you to a librarian.”
Online user form:
http://www.hcpl.net/form/book-hunters-your-personal-reading-consultants
“We’ve offered this service for seven or eight years, and last year we decided to revamp the form to make it shorter and easier to fill out. Since then the popularity of the service has skyrocketed,” Kadir said. Libraries have actually seen a resurgence in usage as the popularity of e-reading devices has grown, since library members can borrow e-books for free.
Morley's The Haunted Bookshop, 1919 origin of bibliotherapy?
http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2010/11/22/a-feeling-for-books/
Librarians and library school faculty variously attribute the origins of bibliotherapy to the Oct. 15, 1939 Library Journal article, “Can There Be a Science of Bibliotherapy?” or to Christopher Morley’s The Haunted Bookshop (1919).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Bookshop
Librarians and library school faculty variously attribute the origins of bibliotherapy to the Oct. 15, 1939 Library Journal article, “Can There Be a Science of Bibliotherapy?” or to Christopher Morley’s The Haunted Bookshop (1919).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Bookshop
Literary Response Questionnaire
Aspects of Literary Response: A New Questionnaire
David S. Miall and Don Kuiken
Departments of English and Psychology
University of Alberta
University of Alberta
Research in the Teaching of English, 29, 1995, 37-58.
© National Council of Teachers of English, 1995
Abstract | Introduction
| Development of the LRQ | Method
| Results and Discussion | Discussion
| Authors' Notes | References
| Appendix 2: LRQ Items
A newly developed instrument, the Literary Response Questionnaire
(LRQ), provides scales that measure seven different aspects of readers'
orientation toward literary texts: Insight, Empathy, Imagery Vividness, Leisure
Escape, Concern with Author, Story-Driven Reading, and Rejection of Literary
Values.Therefore, it is appropriate to consider the range of beliefs, attitudes, and predilections that readers report and to develop a psychometrically sound means for assessing such variations. To this end, we have developed the Literary Response Questionnaire (LRQ). Its current version offers a set of low-inference scales that measure different aspects of readers' orientation toward literary texts. The purpose of the present report is to describe development of the LRQ, to review evidence of its reliability and validity, and to offer suggestions for its use in teaching or research settings.
Appendix 2: LRQ Items and Their Primary Factor Loadings
Insight
Reading literature makes me sensitive to aspects of my life that I usually ignore (786, personal).
In literature I sometimes recognize feelings that I have overlooked during my daily life (.775, personal).
I often find my shortcomings explored through characters in literary texts (.734, personal).
I find that literature helps me to understand the lives of people that differ from myself (.732, non-personal).
Reading literature often gives me insights into the nature of people and events in my world (.728, non-personal).
I often see similarities between events in literature and events in my own life (.723, personal).
I often find my own motives being explored through characters in literary texts (.715, personal).
I find that certain literary works help me to understand my more negative feelings (.711, personal).
Literature enables you to understand people that you'd probably disregard in normal life (.700, non-personal).
I sometimes find that reading a literary text makes me feel like changing the way I live (.625, personal).
In my reading, I learn to recognize more readily certain types of people or events, i.e., I can see these types more clearly after reading about a particular example in a literary text (.619, non-personal).
When I begin to understand a literary text, it's because I've been able to relate it to my own concerns about life (.602, personal).
Literature often gives special emphasis to those things that make a moral point (.513, non-personal).
Sometimes while reading literature my feelings draw me toward a distinctly unsettling view of life (.512, personal).
Empathy
Sometimes I feel like I've almost "become" a character I've read about in fiction (.856).
I sometimes have imaginary dialogues with people in fiction (786).
When I read fiction I often think about myself as one of the people in the story (.737).
I sometimes wonder whether I have really experienced something or whether I have read about it in a book (677).
1 actively try to project myself into the role of fictional characters, almost as if I were preparing to act in a play (.652).
Sometimes characters in novels almost become like real people in my life (.647).
After reading a novel or story that I enjoyed, I continue to wonder about the characters almost as though they were real people (.509).
Imagery Vividness
I often see the places in stories I read as clearly as if I were looking at a picture (.800).
I can readily visualize the persons and places described in a novel or short story (.723).
I sometimes think I could draw a map of the places I have read about in a work of fiction (.660).
Sometimes a scene from a story or poem is so clear that I know its smell, its touch, its "feel" (.638).
I often hear dialogue in a novel as though I were listening to an actual conversation (560).
When I read a literary text, a scene that is only partly described often becomes a whole, vividly present place in my mind (.545).
When reading a story, sometimes I can almost feel what it would be like to be there (.515).
I usually hear the tone of speech in a dialogue from a story or novel (498).
Often when I read literary texts, descriptions of smells suggest colors, descriptions of colors suggest feelings, and so on (.468).
Leisure Escape
Sometimes I like to curl up with a good book just to enjoy myself (840). When I have spare time my favorite activity is reading a novel (.817).
Very often I cannot put down a story until I have finished reading it (.796).
Reading literature is a pleasurable way to spend time when I have nothing else to do (.774).
Reading a story is a wonderful way to relax. (.763).
While reading I completely forget what time it is (.740).
I find that reading literature is a great help in taking my mind off my own problems (666).
I like to become so absorbed in the world of the literary text that I forget my everyday concerns (.608).
Once I've discovered one work by an author I like, I usually try to read all the other works by that author (.579).
I am often so involved in what I am reading that I am no longer aware of myself (.578).
I often wish I had more time for reading literature (.509).
Concern With Author
One of my primary interests in reading literature is to learn about the themes and concerns of a given author (.755).
In reading I like to focus on what is distinctive about the author's style (.742).
One of my primary interests in reading is to learn about the different genres of literature (.727).
I like to see how a particular author's work relates to other literature of the author's period (.726).
When reading I usually try to identify an author's distinctive themes (.701).
One of my primary interests in reading literature is to appreciate the author's understanding of society and culture (.686).
I think literature is especially interesting when it illuminates facts about the author's life (.610).
When I find a work of literature I like, I usually try to find out something about the author (.608).
The challenge of literature is to comprehend the author's unique view of life (.605).
I am often intrigued by an author's literary technique (.508).
Story-Driven Reading
I like to see tension building up in the plot of a story (659).
The type of literature I like best tells an interesting story (.635).
I think the most important part of fiction or drama is plot (.619).
When reading a novel, what I most want to know is how the story turns out (.609).
I like it best when a story has an unexpected ending (.600).
I prefer to read fiction in which there is plenty of action (.599).
When reading a novel my main interest is seeing what happens to the characters (.576).
1 find it difficult to read a novel in which nothing much seems to happen (.540).
Rejection of Literary Values
I think people should spend less time talking or writing about literature (.755).
Even if literature were well taught, I think high schools should not devote so much time to it (.738).
For me a work of literature is destroyed by trying to analyze it (.711).
One of the things I dislike most about being a student of literature is the teacher who tells you what a literary text means (.703).
Reading literary texts from past centuries should be left to literary scholars and historians (.623).
1 don't believe that literature is socially relevant (.616).
1 disliked English in high school because most of the texts I was asked to read I would not have chosen myself (.579).
Works of literature often seem to make the issues of life more complicated than they actually are (.491).
If I want to spend time reading, I don't choose "literary" texts (.392).
Reader Response Theory Typology
5 types of Reader Response Theory
1. Transactional
Louise Rosenblatt; Wolfgang Iser
Transactional Reader Response Theory analyzes the transaction between the text and reader. Both are seen as equally important. A reader can take an efferent stance, based on determinant meanings in a text, or an aesthetic stance, based on determinant and indeterminacy of meanings.
2. Affective Stylistics
Stanley Fish
Affective Stylistics Reader Response Theory examines a text in a slow motion format, in which each line is studied in order to determine how (stylistics) affects (affective) the reader in the process of reading.
3. Subjective
David Bleich
Subjective Reader Response Theory believes that the readers' responses are the text, and that all meaning of a text lies in the readers' interpretations.
4. Psychological
Norman Holland
Psychological Reader Response Theory analyzes what the readers' interpretations and responses reveal about the reader, not the text.
5. Social
Stanley Fish Social Reader Response Theory believes that readers approach a text with interpretative strategies that are the products of the "interpretive communities" in which they belong.
1. Transactional
Louise Rosenblatt; Wolfgang Iser
Transactional Reader Response Theory analyzes the transaction between the text and reader. Both are seen as equally important. A reader can take an efferent stance, based on determinant meanings in a text, or an aesthetic stance, based on determinant and indeterminacy of meanings.
2. Affective Stylistics
Stanley Fish
Affective Stylistics Reader Response Theory examines a text in a slow motion format, in which each line is studied in order to determine how (stylistics) affects (affective) the reader in the process of reading.
3. Subjective
David Bleich
Subjective Reader Response Theory believes that the readers' responses are the text, and that all meaning of a text lies in the readers' interpretations.
4. Psychological
Norman Holland
Psychological Reader Response Theory analyzes what the readers' interpretations and responses reveal about the reader, not the text.
5. Social
Stanley Fish Social Reader Response Theory believes that readers approach a text with interpretative strategies that are the products of the "interpretive communities" in which they belong.
Five Readers Reading by Norman N. Holland
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00002629/00001/1j?n=palmm
from IPSA Psychological Study of the Arts
incredible resource of full text articles
from IPSA Psychological Study of the Arts
incredible resource of full text articles
Wikipedia's Reader Response highlights
Reader-response criticism argues that literature should be viewed as a
performing art in which each reader creates their own, possibly unique,
text-related performance.
categorizing reader-response theorists explicitly invites difficultly due to their overlapping beliefs and practices.[2] Transactional reader-response theory, led by Louise Rosenblatt and supported by Wolfgang Iser, involves a transaction between the text's inferred meaning and the individual interpretation by the reader influenced by their personal emotions and knowledge.[2] Affective stylistics, established by Stanley Fish, believe that a text can only come into existence as it is read; therefore, a text cannot have meaning independent of the reader.[2] Subjective reader-response theory, associated with David Bleich, looks entirely to the reader's response for literary meaning as individual written responses to a text are then compared to other individual interpretations to find continuity of meaning.[2] Psychological reader-response theory, employed by Norman Holland, believes that a reader’s motives heavily affect how they read, and subsequently use this reading to analyze the psychological response of the reader.[2] Social reader-response theory is Stanley Fish's extension of his earlier work, stating that any individual interpretation of a text is created in an interpretive community of minds consisting of participants who share a specific reading and interpretation strategy.[2] In all interpretive communities, readers are predisposed to a particular form of interpretation as a consequence of strategies used at the time of reading.[2]
The most fundamental difference among reader-response critics is probably, then, between those who regard individual differences among readers' responses as important and those who try to get around them.
categorizing reader-response theorists explicitly invites difficultly due to their overlapping beliefs and practices.[2] Transactional reader-response theory, led by Louise Rosenblatt and supported by Wolfgang Iser, involves a transaction between the text's inferred meaning and the individual interpretation by the reader influenced by their personal emotions and knowledge.[2] Affective stylistics, established by Stanley Fish, believe that a text can only come into existence as it is read; therefore, a text cannot have meaning independent of the reader.[2] Subjective reader-response theory, associated with David Bleich, looks entirely to the reader's response for literary meaning as individual written responses to a text are then compared to other individual interpretations to find continuity of meaning.[2] Psychological reader-response theory, employed by Norman Holland, believes that a reader’s motives heavily affect how they read, and subsequently use this reading to analyze the psychological response of the reader.[2] Social reader-response theory is Stanley Fish's extension of his earlier work, stating that any individual interpretation of a text is created in an interpretive community of minds consisting of participants who share a specific reading and interpretation strategy.[2] In all interpretive communities, readers are predisposed to a particular form of interpretation as a consequence of strategies used at the time of reading.[2]
The most fundamental difference among reader-response critics is probably, then, between those who regard individual differences among readers' responses as important and those who try to get around them.
Reader Response Theory in Slideshare
- 1. Reader Response Theory Khadija Khadim Jawad Khan Niazi Waqar Azeem Inam ul Haq Nuzhat Parveen Sadaf Nazir Khawar Hussain (group 3)
- 2. Introduction Emerged in 1930 Primary focus on reading It is text based not author based “text and text alone” Also called as “Affective fallacy”
- 3. Leading Proponents Stanley Fish Wayne Booth Louise Rosenblatt
- 4. Theoretical Assumption Literature is a per formative art and each reading is a performance. The literary text possess no fixed and final meaning literary meaning is created by the interaction of the text and reader Reader is not passive but active Role of reader cannot be ignored
- 5. Salient features Acknowledged importance of text and reader Text relationship with reader Reader is 3rd party Reality exist in readers mind Work is fully created when readers assimilate it Text has not one inherent meaning but it depend on individual interpretation.
- 6. Types of responses Initial emotional response Interpretive Analysis Question Summary Arguing with author Inter textuality
- 7. Text Identity Imaginative literature is lived by reader 2 time reading of single text produces great insight in the reader mind Text alone is nothing as a unit but it completes is identity after the reader interpretation
- 8. Types of Reading Aesthetic Afferent Aesthetic reading for pleasure emotional focus literature. Efferent reading for information telephone book history text. In reader response theory reading must be aesthetic rather than afferent.
- 9. Kinds of Meaning in a Text Determinate Indeterminate Determinate basically the facts in the text Indeterminate are the “gaps” in the text which is filled by readers In RR theory, indeterminate meaning are more focus
- 10. Kinds of Reader Implied Reader Actual Reader Implied reader finds out the determinate meaning of the text Actual reader fills the gap in the text and find out the indeterminate meaning of the text
- 11. Techniques of Reading Reader extracts the meaning through Experiencing Hypothesizing Exploring Synthesizing
- 12. Benefits Broaden the horizon of mind Multiple interpretation Cultural study Encourage the students to make interpretations
- 13. Continued…. Dependence on the teachers is discouraged Students trust on their own Responses Students ability of responsibility and authority is increased Personal responses are valued Help reader to become better critical reader
- 14. limitations Not every interpretation may be valid. Students can also go beyond the interpretation levels. Students can also disagree and argue with each others interpretations.
- 15. Enhancement of RR Literature circles General writing Peer writing group Open ended discussion
- 16. Comparison Reader Response Method Traditional Method Enhance Ideas Student dependent Student become tolerant Produces multiple interpretation Better critical reader Single idea Teacher dependent Teacher biasness Discourages enhancements of ideas No practice of mind
- 17. Conclusion Reader response theory is the best theory which makes the reader and students to be active and to analysis a text by their own ways it achieved great importance in 19th century and for students and teacher it is the most reliable method of studying and teaching.
- from Reader Response Theory http://www.slideshare.net/dijamalik39/reader-response-theory-33860734
Monday, April 25, 2016
Reader Response Criticism from Lenie Belandres Slideshare
- 1. Literary Theory Reader-Response
- 2. Subjective vs. Objective • When we refer to something as “subjective” we mean that it pertains to the individual (the reader). A subjective reading of a text is one in which emphasis is placed on the attitudes, moods, and opinions of the reader. • When we refer to something as “objective” we mean that it pertains to an object (the text) separate from the individual (the reader). An objective reading of a text is one that is uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices. • Reader-Response criticism offers a subjective, or egocentric, reading of a text. Egocentrism refers to anything that regards the self of the individual as the center of all things.
- 3. What is Reader-Response? • RR critics believe that a reader’s interaction with the text gives the text its meaning. The text cannot exist without the reader. • If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a noise? If a text sits on a shelf in a bookstore and no one is around to read it, does the text have meaning?
- 4. What is Reader-Response? • RR criticism is NOT a free-for-all school of thought where anything goes. RR criticism is still a disciplined theory deserving of a careful reading of the text. • RR critics are focused on finding meaning in the act of reading itself and examining the ways individual readers or communities of readers experience texts. • The reader joins with the author to “help the text mean.”
- 5. What is Reader-Response? • A successful reader-response critic does not just respond to a text—anyone can do that— but analyzes his or her response, or the responses of others. • Our life experiences and the communities we belong to greatly influence our reading of a text • Because each reader will interact with the text differently, the text may have more than one valid interpretation.
- 6. READER-RESPONSE STYLISTICS According to Jonathan Culler (1981), RR examines the reader’s response to a text as a response to a horizon of expectations. By a horizon of expectations, is meant that there is multiplicity of meanings of interpretations in a text and these can be accessed by the reader according to his or her level or literary competence.
- 7. A reader’s literary competence is highly informed by the social world in which a text is produced as it usually has a shaping effect on his or her interpretation of a such text. In RR, there is an interaction between the structure of the text and the reader’s response. It evokes a situation where individual readers give meaning to the text. This is because each reader will interact with the text differently, as the text may have more than one vivid interpretation.
- 8. RR theorists share two beliefs: 1. The role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature (unlike New Critics who believe that the meaning of a text is contained in the text alone). 2. Readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to them by an objective literary text. Instead, readers actively make the meaning they find in literature.
- 9. Reader Response Theory, simply stated, is the reader's response to literary text. Tyson (2006) describes in Critical Theory Today the five types of Reader Response theories and the differences that lie within each. The following table summarizes each theory, the noted researcher(s) associated with the theory, and provides a basic definition.
- 10. Theory Theorist(s) Definition Transactional Louise Rosenblatt; Wolfgang Iser Transactional Reader Response Theory analyzes the transaction between the text and reader. Both are seen as equally important. A reader can take an efferent stance, based on determinant meanings in a text, or an aesthetic stance, based on determinant and indeterminacy of meanings. Affective Stylistics Stanley Fish Affective Stylistics Reader Response Theory examines a text in a "slow motion" format, in which each line is studied in order to determine "how (stylistics) affects (affective) the reader in the process of reading" (Tyson, 2006, p. 175). Subjective David Bleich Subjective Reader Response Theory believes that the readers' responses are the text, and that all meaning of a text lies in the readers' interpretations. Psychological Norman Holland Psychological Reader Response Theory znalyzes what the readers' interpretations and responses reveal about the reader, not the text. Social Stanley Fish Social Reader Response Theory believes that readers approach a text with interpretative strategies that are the products of the "interpretive communities" in which they belong.
- 11. Transactional Reader Response Analyzes the transaction between reader and text both the reader and the text are necessary in the production of meaning As we read, the text acts as a stimulus to which we respond feelings, associations, and memories all influence the way we make sense of a text as we read it.
- 12. CONCLUSION Reader response theory is the best theory which makes the reader and students to be active and to analysis a text by their own ways it achieved great importance in 19th century and for students and teacher it is the most reliable method of studying and teaching.
- http://www.slideshare.net/leniebelandres/readers-response-cticism
Sunday, April 24, 2016
The Emergency Poet
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Emergency-Poet-Anti-Stress-Poetry-Anthology/dp/1782434054/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=5143j3xtu7L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&refRID=KV5NPB97SYHW9D0JBTD8#reader_1782434054
Words Work Well Scotland bibliotherapy examples
http://wordsworkwellscotland.co.uk/lapidus_tool/examples-of-bibliotherapy/
Friday, April 22, 2016
Feb 2016 issue of Lancet article
http://relit.org.uk/sites/default/files/books_do_furnish_a_mind-_the_art_and_science_of_bibliotherapy_-_piis0140-67361600337-8.pdf.pdf
from ReLit
bibliographic notes
--Cornett, CE and Cornett, CF. Bibliotherapy: the right book at the right time. Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, Bloomington, IN; 1980
--Crothers, SM. A literary clinic. Atlantic Monthly. 1916; 118: 291–301
--Jack, SJ and Ronan, KR. Bibliotherapy: practice and research. Sch Psychol Int. 2008; 29: 161–182
--Kelly, R. Black rainbow: how words healed me—my journey through depression. Hodder & Stoughton, London; 2014
--Latchem, JM and Greenhalgh, J. The role of reading on the health and well-being of people with neurological conditions: a systematic review. Aging Ment Health. 2014; 18: 731–744
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Neuroplasticity as potential direction for bibliotherapy
http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/robert-fulford-the-world-of-bibliotherapy
excerpt
The world of bibliotherapy contains many researchers, most of them academics, searching for ways to develop it into a more effective technique. A typical figure is Hoi F. Cheu, a professor in the English department at Laurentian University. A student of literature with a bent for unexpected themes (he wrote his PhD dissertation on Zen and the Art of James Joyce), he now concentrates on bibliotherapy. He works with several hospitals, including the Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto.
Cheu believes that recent explorations of neuroplasticity open new directions for bibliotherapy. He quotes Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain that Changes Itself, on “The Culturally Modified Brain.” As Cheu writes, “We now have scientific observations to demonstrate that cultural activities can change brain structures. After decades of cultural construction theories, we can now reunite with the scientists to investigate a biological approach to literature.”
excerpt
The world of bibliotherapy contains many researchers, most of them academics, searching for ways to develop it into a more effective technique. A typical figure is Hoi F. Cheu, a professor in the English department at Laurentian University. A student of literature with a bent for unexpected themes (he wrote his PhD dissertation on Zen and the Art of James Joyce), he now concentrates on bibliotherapy. He works with several hospitals, including the Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto.
Cheu believes that recent explorations of neuroplasticity open new directions for bibliotherapy. He quotes Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain that Changes Itself, on “The Culturally Modified Brain.” As Cheu writes, “We now have scientific observations to demonstrate that cultural activities can change brain structures. After decades of cultural construction theories, we can now reunite with the scientists to investigate a biological approach to literature.”
Bibliotherapy's memorable dates
from Jeffrey Kottler's list of memorable dates:
1802 Benjamin Rush, the "father of psychiatry," recommended reading as treatment for mentally ill
1846 Minson Galt developed guidelines for using books with mentally ill
1904 first professional librarian appointed to a mental hospital
1916 Samuel Crothers coined "bibliotherapy"
1923 Sadie Peterson-Delaney established bibliotherapy program in Tuskegee VA hospital
1925 Josephine Jackson published The Therapeutic Value of Books
1937 Elizabeth Pomery completed first systematic research study on bibliotherapy
1941 Bibliotherapy appears in Medical Dictionary
1945 Clara Kircher developed children's literature bibliography for bibliotherapeutic use
1961 Bibliotherapy appears in Webster's Dictionary
1962 First symposium on bibliotherapy
1970 Bibliotherapy Round Table founded
1802 Benjamin Rush, the "father of psychiatry," recommended reading as treatment for mentally ill
1846 Minson Galt developed guidelines for using books with mentally ill
1904 first professional librarian appointed to a mental hospital
1916 Samuel Crothers coined "bibliotherapy"
1923 Sadie Peterson-Delaney established bibliotherapy program in Tuskegee VA hospital
1925 Josephine Jackson published The Therapeutic Value of Books
1937 Elizabeth Pomery completed first systematic research study on bibliotherapy
1941 Bibliotherapy appears in Medical Dictionary
1945 Clara Kircher developed children's literature bibliography for bibliotherapeutic use
1961 Bibliotherapy appears in Webster's Dictionary
1962 First symposium on bibliotherapy
1970 Bibliotherapy Round Table founded
Stories We've Heard, Stories We've Told: Life-Changing Narratives in Therapy by Jeffrey Kottler
https://books.google.com/books?id=dfBwBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=%22Bibliotherapy+Round+Table%22&source=bl&ots=uH8Rjxa6oT&sig=3XFFvZd7aHw0NRIM6nBRIG--tYA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiU-t3juZ7MAhUB7WMKHSkXCUoQ6AEIOjAF#v=onepage&q=%22Bibliotherapy%20Round%20Table%22&f=false
This book is a bit expensive, but the Google Books preview includes a list of dates, starting in the 13th century, in which some form of reading as therapy has been recorded.
This book is a bit expensive, but the Google Books preview includes a list of dates, starting in the 13th century, in which some form of reading as therapy has been recorded.
Monday, April 18, 2016
Deleuze and Guattari
http://csmt.uchicago.edu/annotations/deleuzerhizome.htm
“There is no longer a tripartite division between a field of reality (the world) and a field of representation (the book) and a field of subjectivity (the author). Rather, an assemblage establishes connections between certain multiplicities drawn from each of these orders, so that a book has no sequel nor the world as its object nor one or several authors as its subject.”
"Rhizome," in A Thousand Plateaus
“There is no longer a tripartite division between a field of reality (the world) and a field of representation (the book) and a field of subjectivity (the author). Rather, an assemblage establishes connections between certain multiplicities drawn from each of these orders, so that a book has no sequel nor the world as its object nor one or several authors as its subject.”
"Rhizome," in A Thousand Plateaus
Friday, April 15, 2016
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Thursday, April 07, 2016
Wednesday, April 06, 2016
Paolo Coellho's the Witch of Portobello
Quotes: Don't confuse the teacher with the lesson, the ritual with the ecstacy, the transmitter of the symbol with the symbol itself.
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Friday, April 01, 2016
Monday, March 14, 2016
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Lou Andreas-Salome quote
“Poetry is something in-between the dream and its interpretation.” ― Lou Andreas-Salomé
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Friday, March 11, 2016
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Monday, March 07, 2016
Sunday, March 06, 2016
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Friday, February 12, 2016
Sonnet
| PLEA BITE The plea condensed into a form absconds Tough kisses cool that bite instead of soothe And water lilies more appropriate for ponds The surface glistens sparkling as it moves A blue lit cloud my thought invoke, surround, Is ruining dead religion such a sin Surprising myth an open door propound Belief began inside a seed within. Take red ripe bite into an apple hot And softly hug your dreams but don't bestow Before consider what you have begot The frog, warts and all, we cut long ago. Then say enough begin wih sharpened tools Important thoughts not need observe just rules. |
 |
Saturday, February 06, 2016
Choose Books by Locale
http://www.packabook.co.uk/books-set-in-usa.html (Oregon)
http://www.packabook.co.uk/
Find fiction and nonfiction based on geographic locations all over the world.
Friday, February 05, 2016
Wednesday, February 03, 2016
LitMed book suggestion 17
http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/11805
ON WITH THE STORY
John Barth gets mixed reviews on Amazon from Publisher's Weekly for this collection of stories.
Have not read. However, consensus seems to support that whether or not this is his best work, Barth is a clever boy.
ON WITH THE STORY
John Barth gets mixed reviews on Amazon from Publisher's Weekly for this collection of stories.
Have not read. However, consensus seems to support that whether or not this is his best work, Barth is a clever boy.
LitMed book suggestion 16
http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/1354
SCAR TISSUE
for which Michael Ignatieff was short listed for the Booker Prize in 1993, comes highly regarded and covers a lot of ground according to this list of tags from the NYU LitMed database. Clicking on any link should pull up the titles in their collection that have been tagged the same.
SCAR TISSUE
for which Michael Ignatieff was short listed for the Booker Prize in 1993, comes highly regarded and covers a lot of ground according to this list of tags from the NYU LitMed database. Clicking on any link should pull up the titles in their collection that have been tagged the same.
- Adolescence
- Aging
- Art of Medicine
- Caregivers
- Children
- Chronic Illness/Chronic Disease
- Communication
- Death and Dying
- Dementia
- Depression
- Disability
- Disease and Health
- Doctor-Patient Relationship
- Empathy
- Family Relationships
- Father-Son Relationship
- Grief
- Hospitalization
- Human Worth
- Illness and the Family
- Individuality
- Loneliness
- Love
- Marital Discord
- Medical Research
- Memory
- Mental Illness
- Mother-Son Relationship
- Mourning
- Narrative as Method
- Nursing
- Obsession
- Parenthood
- Religion
- Science
- Suffering
- Survival
- Technology
- Time
- Women's Health
LitMed book suggestion 15
http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/1275
THERAPY
David Lodge tells his story through the pages of his protagonist's psychotherapy journal.
LitMed book suggestion 14
INTER ICE AGE 4
Kobo Abe's near-future scifi looks as if it would hit my cyberpunk sweet spot. Look forward to reading this one.
Monday, February 01, 2016
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Sunday, January 24, 2016
University of Liverpool case histories of bibliotherapy course
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/cpd/courses/cpd-london/bibliotherapy/
One woman self treats post partum depression with books
http://www.empowher.com/depression/content/bibliotherapy-reading-list-relief-depression?page=0,2
BTT biblio telephone therapy a success
http://www.thepsychiatry.com/feasibility-and-acceptability-of-bibliotherapy-and-telephone-sessions-for-the-treatment-of-late-life-anxiety-disorders/
Excellent bibliography on Words Work Well Scotland
http://wordsworkwellscotland.co.uk/lapidus_tool/biblio-therapeutic-uses-of-reading-and-writing/
Bibliotherapy in Scotland
http://wordsworkwellscotland.co.uk/ted-bowman-gives-talk-on-bibliotherapy/
Bibliotherapy blog well set up but not sure it is therapeutic so much as reviewing
http://biblio-therapy.com/category/genre/graphic-novel/
WebMD lists how reading might make you happier
http://blogs.webmd.com/art-of-relationships/2015/12/how-reading-might-make-you-happier.html
School of Life bibliotherapists on staff £100 a shot
http://www.theschooloflife.com/london/shop/individual-bibliotherapy/?utm_source=The+School+of+Life+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=41278306de-Anxious_Gift_Guide12_2_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ee13007971-41278306de-20832913&mc_cid=41278306de&mc_eid=757be0fe2c
Well thought out review of A NOVEL CURE
https://themisanthropologist.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/a-novel-cure-an-a-z-of-literary-remedies/
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Friday, January 22, 2016
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Gotham questionnaire character prompts
https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/character-questionnaire/gotham
Proust questionnaire of character prompts
https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/character-questionnaire/proust
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Quotes:
I'm like a man who's been half-asleep all his life, trying to find out what he was like before he woke up.
...emotional problems can't be solved as intellectual problems are.
I am not only a thing, but also a way of being--one of many ways--and knowing the paths I have followed and the ones left to take will help me understand what I am becoming.
How many great problems have gone unsolved because men didn't know enough, or have enough faith in the creative process and in themselves, to let go for the whole mind to work at it?
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Neal Stephenson SEVENEVES
Was reading along getting into the storyline, even enjoying the hard science details up until the part where NS jumps ahead 5000 years into the future, leaving the first part of the novel abruptly and disconcertingly and unsatisfingly hanging. I put it down at page 638, with 861 total, though I had started skimming about a hundred pages earlier. Really too bad. So much time and thought obviously went into its making. Being a big NS fan, I was ultimately dissapointed.
Even though some resolution was implied, in that there are descendants of survivors, the Eves, making up the second part of the novel - there is no sense of continuity. It almost seems as if this were a 1000+ page novel and that publishers edited down the pastry shell to 638 but left out the creamy center. Or maybe NS just lost the momentum he needed to bring it all home.
Seven moons is about how long it will take to plod through to the end. (I had a peek through and skimmed the last chapter. There is a teaser about a character from the first part. Will we see the parallel storyline developed in a 2nd in a series of #? Will I even care?
Even though some resolution was implied, in that there are descendants of survivors, the Eves, making up the second part of the novel - there is no sense of continuity. It almost seems as if this were a 1000+ page novel and that publishers edited down the pastry shell to 638 but left out the creamy center. Or maybe NS just lost the momentum he needed to bring it all home.
Seven moons is about how long it will take to plod through to the end. (I had a peek through and skimmed the last chapter. There is a teaser about a character from the first part. Will we see the parallel storyline developed in a 2nd in a series of #? Will I even care?
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