Reading Lenses

I think that this is an interesting assignment, since I have never thought about my reading process. I think that we all just do it naturally without realizing. A way in which the author describes something, the word usage, the direction are indicators of what lenses to use. When I am taking in a reading a few of the things that let’s say will make me think of feminism are a female character who desires freedom or independence or “a room of her own”; a female expressing her self and her individuality; a female character who is facing adversary or discrimination for how she is or looks or for being a woman; or a suggestion to a woman’s role or appearance. Some of the literary genres are easier to identity than others since they are heavy handed in their indications. For example when I read Gothic, I know that I am reading Gothic because there are great excesses like a room filled with mirrors, an allusion to a trangression, and often times a story line that entails a woman living in solitude or a man exploring a forgotten ruin. One of the key elements of Gothic are obscurity and shadows. Gothic is not only a genre but a lens as well; you can read a detective novel that has a scene with a character going down to a dark basement that leads to labyrinth. Comparing literature is another lens used without realizing. Let’s say while reading a narrator monologing exposition I think of Dostoevsky. The indicators for this lens are exposition and a general feeling of seclusion and sadness. I use my psychological or surrealist lens when I am reading about a character’s state of mind or about a dream. Personal experience is the first lens we use as readers, when we pick out aspects of how the reading applies to our personal selves and lives.

MM