I'm reading Moby Dick for . . . the fifth time maybe. I remember thoroughly enjoying it the first time read it in the eighth or maybe ninth grade. It was a fascinating tale for required reading. Then my teacher ruined it for me for years. She insisted on dissecting it and finding all sorts of nonsensical meanings in the words. I wonder what it is about great, enjoyable yarns that drives teachers and critics to destroy an author's work and take the joy from it?
Just an idle thought.
Try doing an English Literature degree where you agonise for hours about the intended meaning of a word or the unintended meaning of a phrase until any enjoyment is dissected out of the reading.
Imagine repurposing these dissection skills from literature to film and you can never watch a film for fun again.
I had one lecturer who was adamant that Shakespeare’s genius lay in his agonising over the choice of every single word he wrote.
When it was pointed out to said lecturer that Shakespeare was churning out hit plays, at a frankly astonishing pace, and that on any legal document, that it is known Shakespeare himself must have signed, that have survived - will, mortgage, loan, theatre stuff etc - he never signed his name the same way twice. Every possible variation of “Shakespeare” imaginable was deployed - Shakeshaft, Brakespere etc - he didn’t have time to ‘agonise’ over words because he was too busy writing!
Said lecturer didn’t like it when it was pointed out that Shakespeare’s genius lay in his ability to say: ‘That’ll do: what’s next? Ah yes, I think I’ll write a play set in an Italian town I have never been too…they’ll probably say how true to Italian life of the period my writing is.’
Sorry
@warren; I went off on a bit of a rant, lamenting lost years trying to dissect the psychoanalytical content of
Dracula or a Marxist reading of
A Tale of Two Cities - both wonderful books now wonderfully ruined…and don’t get me started on William Blake! ?
