tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post7443429840985670716..comments2024-03-19T02:14:31.704-04:00Comments on <center>OnFiction</center>: The Search for MeaningKeith Oatleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-20042969209745827562011-02-09T09:55:40.317-05:002011-02-09T09:55:40.317-05:00Thank you Zazie, very much, for this. I totally ag...Thank you Zazie, very much, for this. I totally agree that reading groups are very much about finding meanings, and that the sharing of such meanings with others in an intimate way is very precious. The reading group I've been in for 20 years had a fascinating time, yesterday evening, trying to find the centre of David Grossman's <i>To the end of the land.</i> So Pamuk's idea that the centre is discoverable, but at the same time secret, is very thought provoking. <br /><br />I don't know whether great novels have several centres. Perhaps they do. It's an interesting thought. I suppose I like to think of it in the way that Chekhov said: that the fiction writer's job is not to answer a question [that is the job of writers in science and history] but to put a question exactly, in a way that the reader is then in a position to draw closer to answering it, for himself or herself. It isn't, of course, irrelevant what the writer thinks the centre is, but it's as if the writer is really another searching reader.Keith Oatleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-47056808602225616232011-02-08T14:02:09.560-05:002011-02-08T14:02:09.560-05:00This is really fascinating! Thank you for drawing ...This is really fascinating! Thank you for drawing my attention to it. I love this idea of a 'secret center'. It ties in with my own paper on how people talk about books, where I was surprised by the extent to which different readers find different meanings (I can think of them as secret centers now). So I wonder if a great novel needs to have several secret centers? In other words, it might not just be the extent to which the center is obvious to the reader (I agree it's better if the reader has to do some work to discover it), but also whether there are several centers that will resonate on a different level to different readers? That way, the secret center is not just central to the book, but also personal to the reader? Anyway, great posting, thank you!Zazienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-44186241376146451212011-02-08T13:51:42.426-05:002011-02-08T13:51:42.426-05:00Thank you, Barbara, very much for this comment. I ...Thank you, Barbara, very much for this comment. I agree that the idea of the secret center of a novel is a very good one. I had not read it put like this before, and I think Pamuk has it right. <i>Anna Karenina</i> is one of the books he discusses. <br /><br />I think the question you ask about whether books with a message are of less literary value is a good one. Pamuk says something about this, but perhaps not enough. I think the reason is as you imply: for a novel to have the greatest literary value, the reader must not be told what to think, but to be engaged in the search, and in thinking and feeling, on his or her own account.Keith Oatleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-33801751867975758022011-02-08T06:15:54.958-05:002011-02-08T06:15:54.958-05:00Beautiful the notion of the secret center, thank y...Beautiful the notion of the secret center, thank you for pointing it to us! 'We never discover the center in any definite sense'... may this be the reason why you feel that some work of fiction have a profound meaning yet you can't really describe it? Ana Karenina with its unspokable message springs to my mind. Also, is this the reason that works with a clear message like the Coelho's ones are regarded as having a lower literary value?Barbara Maleckarhttp://www.mediapsychology.eunoreply@blogger.com