Re: The Ideal Reader an Adolescent
Posted by:
Sawfish (IP Logged)
Date: 3 September, 2020 12:13PM
Dale Nelson Wrote:
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> Oates's observation rang true when I thought of my
> own life. One thing for which I am indebted to
> authors was the enhanced receptivity to the
> natural world and to "old" things worked by
> people.
>
> 1.My best friend, an Asimov fan, felt our coastal
> Oregon town to be a "backwater." For me, immersed
> in Tolkien from age 11, with his wonderful
> imaginative presentation of forest, fern, woods
> paths, mist, it became a place with places to
> love.
>
> 2.Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories helped me to
> enjoy fog, I have little doubt.
>
> 3.A little later, Lovecraft's writing gave me, or
> enhanced in me, a liking for "old" buildings, etc.
> Living in Oregon, actually "old" houses etc. are
> nonexistent, but a brick building in historic
> Jacksonville may be relatively old. Lovecraft
> helped me to pay attention to such things, for
> which I am grateful. I actually think this sort
> of thing was a major draw for me in his work. The
> suggestions of horrible things -- dismemberment
> and so on -- I think never really appealed to me
> much.
No, same here.
It is as if I expect it to be part of the type of story I'm reading, and so it's either tolerable, or in rare cases, essential to establish a heightened level of verisimilitude, but I'm not reading these stories for the truly grotesque--that's the "sauce"--the meat is elsewhere.
>
> Arthur Machen's brooding hills, woods with
> shadowed streams -- goodness, didn't that all
> appeal to me. There were such places near where I
> lived.
>
> So I am thankful for such things encountered and
> assimilated into my youthful imagination.
> Incidentally they were good preparation for later
> when I began to read Wordsworth, the Brontes, etc.
--Sawfish
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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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