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Analysis Of Good Readers And Good Writers By Vladimir Nabokov

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The assigned reading of “Good Readers and Good Writers” by Vladimir Nabokov probes the subject that is the necessary attributes an individual must have in order for them to be successful readers and writers of literature. A list of ten rules is then stated in the essay and sets them as the baseline commandments that an individual must follow in order to be some kind of a devoted “good reader”. While the criteria sets the standard for a “good reader” it aligns with that of a good analyzer and can be applied to that sense. For example one of the first pieces of advice states “If one begins with a readymade generalization, one begins at the wrong end and travels away from the book before one has started to understand it” (Nabokov 1). If a …show more content…

In order to make this reflection as honest as I can, I’m going to have to reveal that my beliefs and idea on reading do not synchronize with those of Perrine and thus it is difficult to incorporate her advice and provide an unbiased reflection that does not conflict with the author's analytical interpretations. What is perhaps the punchline of the text states, “Immature readers seek only escape. Even when they think they are reading for interpretation or some useful moral, they insist that what they read return them always some pleasant or exciting image of the world or some flattering image of themselves” (Perrine 2). While the previous quote may not be completely applicable to me because the text was assigned, I can see myself getting lost within the text and with that, my interpretations. Had I perhaps distanced myself and not been allowed to get “lost” in the text then I would have provided an interpretation for the assigned novels with less emotional bias in it. Perrine then goes onto say an immature reader tends to “make fixed demands of every story and feel frustrated and disappointed unless these demands are satisfied. Often they stick to one type of subject matter” (Perrine 3). While I cannot see any educated individual following this, perhaps to some extent I may have allowed an untidy ending to fix my feelings toward a novel to be relatively

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