"I think way to much, on a one track mind. Your so out of touch cause, I'm so far behind"
RELIENT K, Band

Sometimes, when reading anyb book, but especially bradbury, we need not to take so much into his writing. sometimes there is no underlying theme: it is what it is! so when reading anyone, keep an open mind.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER mrdark

mrdark

Do we apply this principle to mrdark as well? Are you saying that you are 'afraid' to be 'pulled into' an artist's work, and are still searching for personal meaning?

Welcome!

Eventually...eventually, however, you'll have to do something, somewheres in life, like Bradbury once said in so many words about writing: "Jump off the cliff and build your wings on your way down..."

to Nard Kordell: ii am not afraid to immerce myself into an artists world, but merely say that we should try and , even though it is cliche, think outside the box, not in what people think about bradbury, but in our own thoughts, our own interpretations

mrdark

[This message has been edited by mrdark (edited 11-29-2003).]

mrdark:

If you start thinking like others ...of what they think of Bradbury, then pack it up and go home. It's got to be totally personal thing, and that's that. I'm speaking for myself on this one...

I discovered Bradbury as a simple name on a magazine cover, when I was in elementary school. Nothing else. Period. You know what you will love by very simple things at times... Then you have to confront yourself and all your stupidity and frailness, against what you saw. And the battle begins....

Here's what I say about the "meaning" of any work. This is only my opinion. There are multiple meanings. Any given story will have AT LEAST one, possibly all of these:

1. The author's conscious purpose:
it could be an underlying theme or a hidden message, or maybe the author just wants to make an intertaining narrative.

2. The author's unconscious purpose:
perhaps there is some message or agenda that the author did not consciously put into the story, but perhaps did it on a subconscious level. The author may realize this later on in the future, looking at the story in retrospect to his/her life at the time the story had been written.

3. The reader's conscious inferrence:
What the reader knows he/she has gotten out of the story. A message? A life lesson? Just an intertaining narrative?

4. The reader's unconscious inferrence:
I think you get the idea.

Here's the thing though. The reader's inferrence may not match the author's implications. If the author was just trying to make an intertaining narrative, and the reader, trying too hard to put an "interpretation" on the story, could theoretically come up with a meaning that couldn't be farther than what the author had intended.

On the other hand, it doesn't have to be a bad thing if the reader's interpretation doesn't match the author's intent. If you read a story and you don't get the point, but you come away with some other point that makes you think, or makes you happy, or a better person, or whatever it is, then that's good for you, isn't it?

For the most part, I think it's pretty hard to read the work of a good author and NOT get the author's point. Especially with someone like Bradbury. Bradbury is all about life, and appreciation of it. How can you not get sucked into his world? Overanalyse it? How can you? His style is so in-your-face!

groon:

Well said!

Personally, I've come to think of many of Ray's most compelling stories as 'word paintings.' Ray is a true master of the metaphor.

I find many paintings stunning and, on close examination, I find the artist's use of color, texture, shape, and layering amazing. I would never have thought of those colors or shapes in that combination to achieve the result I find so engaging.

Many of Ray's stories give me the same sense of wonder and joy. I would never have thought of juxtaposing those words to communicate that feeling. Some of Ray's writing seems the fly through my eyes straight to my gut.

Groon, I remember reading Arthur C. Clarke's comments on 2001 and at least one person who got a PhD partially based on a rather fantastic deconstruction of the motion picture's true meaning. His primary response was that of being humored at this pseudo-intellectual endeavor which had little to do with his intentions.

Nard Kordell:
If you think that independent thought, finding your own meaning in a work of literature, if you think that this is stupid, then i would start looking at your own intelligence, before questioning others.


LIVE LONG AND PROSPER

mrdark

mrdark,

I don't think Nard was questioning your intelligence. I think he was speaking rhetorically.

Pete

mrdark:

The jury isn't out on this one. You just hung yourself hook line and sinker by your own mouth. I was speaking of 'MYSELF' in my comments to you!

[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 12-05-2003).]

�A book is like a mirror. If a monkey looks into it no apostle looks out.� - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, 1742-1799.

Good quote. I've never seen that one. Here's another one I like. Henry Thoreau, in WALDEN:

"To read well, that is to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object. Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written."