Years ago while I was studying to get a Master of fine arts Degree in Creative Writing, we precious and precocious doves stirred the cote with discussions about AUDIENCE. Who were we writing for? and what do you want to tell them? were core questions. I discovered that humans contact written materials with a complex of nuanced motives that are contained in our humanness. Aristotle tried to answer these questions by positing that the purpose of “poetry” was, “dulce et decorum est ” – to delight and instruct.
Much writing is simply entertainment and designed to avoid the sin described by novelist Salman Rushdie. The great transgression is the fact that the next page is not turned, that the relationship with the reader ends due to bad writing. Many read to escape and they resent challenges that come in the form of polysyllables and the demands for deep thought. There is nothing wrong with a “hot read.” comic books, pot boilers, novels of manners, romances are all based on the pleasant escape. I suspect that a diet of literary bon- bons will eventually become cloying and will fail to nourish the mind.
When James Joyce was challenged about his hyper detailed, complex- near schizophrenic- language he quipped,” I am looking for the ideal reader with the ideal insomnia”. The reader who intentionally seeks a deeper meaning and is willing to navigate a sea of “big words” and challenging ideas is to be fervently sought, indeed. These readers attitude to the material presented is the mindset of the autodidact…they will search and do so with energy. The relationship of writer to reader is a covenantal one. Covenants require adherence to agreed upon behaviors. Simply put, the reader promises to be active and engaged and the writer is committed to give them something worthwhile… a mental meal that offers both sweets and solid fare.
An intentional, active reader is easy to spot. I saw my wife reading a novel about World War Two with an atlas and an historical reference at hand…she was determined to experience the full effect of the writer’s tale and to know the furniture of that world. All writers exist for these people.
If you read Olio Folio you know that you are not always in the candy store and you are not always in life’s classroom. I try to bring a little sugar and a few ideas to each of our encounters. Today, my audience is growing and I am thankful for that. I am even more grateful that diverse people have hitched up their pants and strapped on the work of understanding in order to make little journeys with me.
We are in this together. Thanks for doing the work.
Olio Folio 