Monday, November 20, 2017
The Story Is Where Author And Reader Meet
By: Donovan Baldwin
This morning, I posted a quote, on a social media site, from one of my favorite stories.
Got me to thinking.
As much as the quote meant to me, there are many people who just wouldn't "get it".
Not their fault.
They might not be familiar with the story, or, it just might not be of interest to them.
The second reason I cannot talk about, as only they could know why.
We get to who we are by winding pathways, and trying to re-trace and "correct" someone's past is a thankless, thoughtless, and intrusive, action.
However, not being familiar with the story can be changed by becoming familiar with it. Often, however, it is the meeting of two stories, the author's, and the reader's, that give value and meaning to a quote or excerpt.
Take this line from Robert Louis Stevenson's, "Treasure Island".
"Israel was Flint's gunner."
Spoken at one of the more dramatic moments of the story, and fraught (love that word) with meaning for the knowledgeable reader, It can be totally, in fact, less than, meaningless for those not "in the know".
In the story, Flint was an infamous pirate captain. Israel Hands was his master gunner, and now is a mutineer aiming a cannon at loyal crewmembers.
Even with that, the reader has to be ready to believe in pirates, mutiny on the high seas, and the search for lost treasure to appreciate the moment.
I was, as a boy, and, now, as a man, I guess, I still am.
Got me to thinking.
As much as the quote meant to me, there are many people who just wouldn't "get it".
Not their fault.
They might not be familiar with the story, or, it just might not be of interest to them.
The second reason I cannot talk about, as only they could know why.
We get to who we are by winding pathways, and trying to re-trace and "correct" someone's past is a thankless, thoughtless, and intrusive, action.
However, not being familiar with the story can be changed by becoming familiar with it. Often, however, it is the meeting of two stories, the author's, and the reader's, that give value and meaning to a quote or excerpt.
Take this line from Robert Louis Stevenson's, "Treasure Island".
"Israel was Flint's gunner."
Spoken at one of the more dramatic moments of the story, and fraught (love that word) with meaning for the knowledgeable reader, It can be totally, in fact, less than, meaningless for those not "in the know".
In the story, Flint was an infamous pirate captain. Israel Hands was his master gunner, and now is a mutineer aiming a cannon at loyal crewmembers.
Even with that, the reader has to be ready to believe in pirates, mutiny on the high seas, and the search for lost treasure to appreciate the moment.
I was, as a boy, and, now, as a man, I guess, I still am.
Labels: Captain Flint, donovan baldwin, fiction, mutineers, pirates, Treasure Island
# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 11:45 AM 
