Oct 30 2012
To Each His Own
As the soothing voice of Katherine Vaz began to unravel the story of her latest novel, I found myself being pulled into the plot and picturing the vivid scenes she was describing. I pictured the mother and her child, the guards, and the songs of the birds outside the cell. I began to notice that the pictures I was creating were slightly fragmented; like something was missing. The reason for this was that I was not directly reading the text myself making it slightly harder to picture the scene because I wasn’t staring at the text thus being able to glance around at my surroundings. As she continued to read on, the inflection in her voice gave the reading a distinct style; one that was characteristic of her writing style. It was almost as though her interpretation of her own work was being thrust upon me precluding me from formulating my own interpretations. This is one thing that I dislike about hearing a reading over actually reading on my own because it detracts from the judgements I would have made on my own. Readings by an author tend to have a hint of the their own interpretations and steer the audience in a specific direction whether intentionally or not. Another major issue I often have when being read something is that I focus more on listening than I do on the actual content. This results in the need to glance at what was being read to me in order to fully grasp the concept. Not only was I able to grasp the text better than the reading but I also got a better feeling of the tone and mood that Vaz was trying to convey simply based on her diction; something that is better noticed when reading a text. However, this aspect of a reading can work in the opposite favor as well. By listening to the author, the amount of flawed interpretations are minimized. The author also has the opportunity to explain their reasoning for writing a certain part the way they did and also clarify any misconceptions that may have arose during the excerpt. All in all, the reading was something different and provided a new perspective on the text by letting me hear from the author in the way it was intended to sound. Not having to question the way the author meant for something to sound was something new for me.
P.S. I apologize for the lateness of this post, I lost power yesterday and I’m currently sending this from a Dunkin Donuts.
I had a hard time picturing the vivid scenes as she read. I felt that it would be easier to read it than listen to it. You’re right the inflection in her voice gave it a distinct style. I also prefer to read over listening as well. This experience was also new to me as well. What do you think Vaz could have did to make it more enjoyable for the listener?
I lost my internet yesterday, too! It’s funny how you sent it at a Dunkin Donuts. I agree how being read to completely steers one direction of how the authors views the text. Reading the text is definitely better than being read to when trying grasp the idea of what is going on in the story.
I was also distracted when hearing her talk. You absolutely get a better picture from reading it yourself because your mind is forming the picture as you read. Her diction did clarify the story but I like my mind to take me there. I also didn’t like her voice.
I remember when you made me email Professor Davis for you to let her know this post was going to be late, because you didn’t have power. Wow that feels like such a long time ago. Anyway, I can’t tell if you’re being serious or sarcastic (how many times do I ask you this?) that you thought Vaz’s voice was soothing, because it was far from it! I feel the same way about someone reading to me and reading on my own. I need to make my own judgments and put my voice into the piece to really grasp anything. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who feels this way about reading.