Writers-readers connection

We are used to encountering narratives that transport us to a fantasy world where we forget we are reading and become oblivious or unaware of the writer’s techniques and use of language. In fact, we need to force ourselves to go back and see how the author achieved certain effect on us; because the process was smooth, all we experienced was the ultimate result of the literary work  moving us to feel in a certain way.

In this book we experience a forced detachment from the narrative as the author constantly summons our consciousness and makes us step out of the story by addressing us as “you, reader,” referring to specific sentences and paragraphs, noting the use of certain techniques the author seems to master, and at times confusing us as of which narrator is addressing us or is it the author himself who confronts us now? At moments the work seems presumptuous by assuming that it has our complete interest, which it does (see page 12, only paragraph).

These particularities in the work leave some uncertainty as of what is the purpose of the writer. Obviously he is not just satisfied with the act of telling us a good tale. He demonstrates excellent abilities to tell a story and engage the reader. Every new story awakes a new fascination and a desire to find out more about the characters, but then the author makes us jump into the reflection on the act of writing, reading and producing books. In this situation, as a reader, I feel like addressing him also and ask: what are you doing? Are you going to leave me hanging with all these stories you have introduced and now I am dying to see developed? Is this book going to be worth anything if you don’t put it all together and give me some closure? Why are you so fixated on keeping me aware of my function as a reader and yours as a writer?

Probably that is his whole purpose: to make me reflect on the very act of writing and reading and the beauty of creating this connection among us two strangers and then among all the readers, also strangers discovering a common ground. Maybe in the end all that matters is that we establish that connection and it doesn’t matter if the stories have an ending because the mere act of reading and writing is the only basis of such connection. But it could be that precisely the opposite applies and that unless a story has a meaning and a closure then the connection is broken or has no significance.

On the other hand, I wonder how is this book different from any other collection of short stories, besides the fact that no story has an ending as far as I have read. Is this an experimental novel? And if it applies to our subject matter in Engl. 400, then this “weird writing” the professor has selected for this class is not a new thing. How does it apply to a digital and technology friendly movement in the development of the book as we know it? Maybe it is the very fact that addresses the relationship between writers and readers, and how it can be approached to maintain currency.

Seferina Liriano