Comments on: “Difficult to Describe”

By: lblarson

lblarson — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:58:52 +0000

I understand exactly what you mean! I always feel like I have to think and analyze what I read much longer than everyone around me. And when I do finally have something to say it never comes out quite as well as I hoped it would. I think that is why I initially was kind of scared of reader-response criticism. Working with a concret question or goal is much simpler but in the long run I think I will feel more reward from reader-response criticism because of how I will have to struggle to put my thoughts and feelings into words.

By: tlovdahl

tlovdahl — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:44:18 +0000

I agree with you that pre-conceived notions about a movie or piece of literature affect how a viewing experience will be altered. But I disagree with you that it necessarily enhances the experience to have (certain) background information. When someone tells me I have to watch a movie because they thought it was so hilarious, almost always I will dislike the movie because they set my expectation of laughter too high. Unless essential to understanding plot line or concept, subjective background information seems detrimental to me.

By: tlovdahl

tlovdahl — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:37:53 +0000

The quote you picked out about our first impressions of art being hard to describe make sense. I remember learning about synthesis versus analysis in my survey of British Literature class. It usually takes time for me to get over my initial emotional response (synthesis) before I can return to the work and start to pick it apart (analysis). The challenge I face here is knowing where to even start with analysis, especially when it is a large work like a novel.