"No two persons read the same book" (Edmund Wilson). This implies that each reader derives a unique experience from a book. And why not? Taste and temperament vary from one individual to another. Our life experiences further accentuate such differences. The book 'No Two Persons' by Erica Bauermeister, which I read recently, is a novel about the impact a particular book has on several individuals. It was very absorbing and left me with a desire to read the book which had a transformative effect on different individuals but in entirely different ways. No two persons read the same book after all.
One can say that each of us perceives the world uniquely. When we say the sky is blue, does every one of us have the exact same image on the retina? Our biological bodies have enough in common that we have evolved a consensus regarding the world around us. The question of unique images or sounds would seem less important.
What about our thoughts and emotions? How we react to stories, art, or music? How unique are we in these? I think it is easy to exaggerate the differences but the fact we have popular books, movies, music and art suggests that we are more alike than different at least within a geographical area or a cultural unit. There is also our tendency to be influenced by trends. When we travel and interact with different cultures, the differences do surface. But with the world becoming increasingly connected, the boundaries are becoming blurred.
Our likes and dislikes and our opinions may be shaped by the culture or society where we live. There is also a lot that we learn as we grow up. We go through school and college and are exposed to diverse ideas. We are actually taught to think about things in specific ways. While this is undoubtedly useful, does this condition us and make us more predictable and less unique? Do we lose the spontaneity that we had as children? Why do I need courses on 'Literary Appreciation', 'Film Appreciation' and on theories that are trying tell me how to think about art and literature? If a particular work does not make an impression on me does that mean I somehow lack the ability and therefore must strive to understand it?
I read books, listen to music or watch movies for entertainment or information. Sometimes I am provoked to think about the subject. But then there are books and films that leave me wondering what they mean. I can look for reviews and such to learn their supposed import. While these may deepen my understanding and even add to my appreciation, I may not be motivated to try if the work does not have an impact on its own to start with.
This brings me back to the quote I started with. One of the exercises many of us have gone through in school or college is to write a book report. There are sometimes questions regarding what the author meant by certain book or a poem. How are we to know the author's intent? If we accept that each person will have a unique take on the book or the poem, this question should really be about my opinions, never mind the author's. How should the response be evaluated? It strikes me that the instructor's own biases will heavily influence this. If I am unimpressed by a famous literary work (gasp!), the professor may not take kindly to that. I may even be considered a person with poor tastes. If I merely reproduce a scholarly opinion and state that I concur with it, I may get into trouble for plagiarizing.
It would seem that once a book is published, it is really up to the readers to interpret it after that. The author cedes control of the narrative to some extent. Of course with promotional tours and appearances in talk shows, the authors can guide the process. But they cannot reveal too much at this stage so as to keep the readers interested. I wonder if authors receive reactions for their books entirely different from what they expected. And what role does the publisher play? After all they judge whether a given book will be successful. So how many books do not reach the readers because no editor liked it? All this makes me really appreciate the plight of those who produce original works.
It must be gratifying to authors to have a book received exactly the way they intended. There are books that resonate particularly well with me. I would like to think that these are perhaps books where the author and I are of one mind. Is it possible to refine one's sensibilities to such an extent that one can mind meld with different authors in this manner? Be a true connoisseur and critic?
Personally, it is hard enough for me to churn out a few paragraphs every once in a while on my pet peeves let alone anything creative. I am very grateful for the friends and family who indulge me and encourage me in this. On the strength of that, I shall keep writing as time permits or ideas occur. I hope that my readers find my views resonating with theirs more often than not. In the meantime, I hope to keep reading and find more books to enjoy, more authors to resonate with. When I go to the library I don't try to borrow the latest bestseller. I browse the new books section and try to pick up works by authors I have not read before with some help from the jacket notes. This way I have found some that I really enjoyed but also some that I found boring or left me in a fog. Well, you can't judge a book by its cover after all!
10 comments:
On the dot, Neelu, thanks! While you're at it, how about making a book list of what you've read? Badly need reading recommendations. Suha.
Very nicely written Sri Neelakantan. And an excellent topic. As you write no two persons to some extent see the same image or hear the same tune or even feel the same touch. These sensory inputs are intercepted by the bodily nervous system and the bodily reaction ensues even before the mind had a chance to interpret the input. Hence perhaps the large commonality of perception in these cases.
But reading is at a whole different level. We have unfortunately not evolved enough to bodily process written text, and mind is the first receiver of the input to the extent that it is actually present of course :). Even if present, given the complex animal that mind is - there is large variability in how it may interpret the text input! We all associate with the same word in different ways as you write, and the full import of an essay or a book can go many ways by the time we turn the last page. The whole thing is engineered in the head and lives in the head.
Having said all that, we have a lot of excellent literature that we all appreciate with varying degrees of course. Not sure if that would have been the outcome if we were NOT influenced by 'listening' to lectures or 'watching' videos about the same or even having read & liked/dis-liked similar literature earlier.
To be able to process text, one has to have 'read' earlier besides learning the individual alphabet... and that 'reading' could pre-dispose them to reacting favorably/un-favorably to new text... just typing :)
Ashok
Nicely written Neelu!
While the experience is unique to each person, some common ground gives a shared perspective. Enjoyed reading your blog post.
https://x.com/GautamB53415480/status/1850492440945254782
Always a pleasure to read what you write
Excellent write up, Neelakantan 👍.
Be it a book or film when we see/read it again after a big lapse of time, our appreciation of the same may differ.
This has to be true for any product that is being sold. Of course the effect based on a product that's continuously / regularly used could be different to a product like a book or film used only once (in a while).
So that's the challenge the marketing guys always grapple with......who are the target customers, what should be the communication, when is the product ready for relaunch etc.
Neelu : It was an insightful and thought-provoking read. Food for thought. Re Film Appreciation. My daughter, who's a neuro scientist and postdoc at Yale, is auditing a course on film appreciation out of literary interest. Thanks to her, I have been exposed to movies and documentaries from different geographies, some of which I found extremely moving. Also, the commonalities of the human condition inspite of cultural differences was a humbling experience. One always looks forward to your blog posts. More power to your pen . . Raj nair
It is good to see your blog posts periodically. In this age the views of popular books that get published are shared in social media. Very interesting to see the reactions with a wide spectrum of thoughts and recommendations. Keep up your contribution to our thoughts.
Incisive observations Neelu. Took me back to the 'Communication' hour in B-school ! Frankly, we can extrapolate and state 'no two persons eat the same dish' ...and then you have 'the eye of the beholder' effect on a number of things.
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