June 12, 2008

But what if we suppose

“But what if we just suppose for a moment that the author knows what she is doing. That this book exists not just so we can pick it into pieces, but rather because its author wanted it precisely this way. What do you think the author was attempting to accomplish? And then how might you come to understand whatever baffled you about the work, what didn’t sit quite right? How to bridge the gap between the author’s agenda and our own. What can we give to this book in order that we can take away from it everything that we possibly can?”