The question I chose was; respond to; literature's moral value is determined by the "character of the person writing it and his skill in writing and the character of the person reading it and his skill in reading."
I agree with his Orson Card's view on this; we can only write what we can relate to in some way. It's impossible to write about the pain of heart break and make it believable if we have never experienced heart break and felt it was painful. Writing is painting a picture with words; for many unskilled persons of fine art we look at a painting and think "what the heck is that" Where others that are knowledgeable simply look at it and can feel the artists emotions and intent. Romeo and Juliet is one of the most well known playwrights of a love story. However it is filled with evil and the main characters die. Some may see it as violent and horrific, yet over time it has been explained to us so many times we see past that and feel the love between Romeo and Juliet; because we have become skilled in it. To some hard rock is a bunch of screaming and ear piercing noise (ME), where others know the story inside the lyrics and can relate to the song.
How does a work reflect the character and skill of both the writer and reader?
A work is a piece of the writer, a small glimpse of their soul. It shows their imagination, sensitivity, intelligence, and their talent. Most often there is a character that reflects the author. Readers often find a character in a work that they can relate to, they understand them and feel as if they are experiencing everything right along with them. Sometimes the character is good sometimes it may be evil. The point of fiction is to have conflict, with out conflict their is no victory.
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I agree that we always search for a character when we read to relate to, that might represent at least a tiny part of who we are and what believe. It is also fun to read a story where the main character is completely different from ourselves. It makes things interesting. No one wants to read a story where the character is like us over and over, but it's exciting to imagine that we are like them.
ReplyDeleteI think we often see ourselves differently than reality. I think we sometimes despise a character and are unaware that we may possess the same attributes we despise in them.
DeleteI agree with you as well. I would not like reading a book that did not have any conflict but I also would not like reading a book that only had conflict. There is definitely a balance. I like to relate to the books I read it makes me feel like I am not alone.
ReplyDeleteYou made an interesting correlation between literature, art, and music. It would be neat to explore the connections between the three forms of art in some future essay.
ReplyDeleteI believe you can progress from one art form to another with ease. You can paint a story, turn a painting into a story, music is a story and you can paint a song. If that all makes sense?
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