(no subject)

[persephone_kore]

I think it would be a good idea to figure out where I put my gloves. Hmmm.

I found a seed in one of my clementines. First one in the box. Maybe I should see if I can get it to germinate.

It occurs to me periodically that my favorite English class in high school was the one where the teacher told us that any interpretation we wanted to suggest was legitimate as long as we could support it based on the text. It occurs to me further that it would be a good idea and relaxing to apply this to online discussion of books and other material. At this point, however, it also occurs to me that attempts to predict what the author will do in an ongoing source material may have an odd effect on the relative evaluations of different theories, and that (this is a personal failing in more ways than one) it grows more difficult to keep this idea in mind when people are going on about which characters and readers they hope the author will stick it to in future.

Still would be a good idea. Avoiding the last bit would, too.

Comments

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't think it's really very likely that "The Fall of the House of Usher" was all an elaborate practical joke on the narrator, but it was a very entertaining theory. :) (I strongly suspect the guys who came up with it were testing the teacher's tolerance. She was entertained too, although perhaps it's not so much that the text suggests that interpretation as that it permits it, especially if -- I can't recall -- that story's one of the ones supposedly being told by asylum inmates.)

[lethological.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* Avoided, avoidable, same thing...

*gryn* Teachers allow free interpretation as much for our own intellectual growth as for their personal entertainment. You must admit, grading papers becomes a good deal more interesting when your students come up with theories like that practical joke one. :-)