Reading between the lines?

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by pljames, May 19, 2013.

  1. pljames Registered Member

    Messages:
    83
    Fraggle Rocker,
    Concerning interpretation. Why do people write gibberish then you have to read between the lines? Why can't they write what they mean instead of interjecting (you interpret)? Why the code? Paul
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    My wife got an M.A. in English Literature about ten years after we were married. She kept telling me how wonderful some of the novels were that she was reading and urged me to share them. So I tried reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. This is her favorite book of all time and she used it as the subject of her thesis. García Márquez is one of the world's ten or twenty most respected authors and he has even won the Nobel Prize.

    I got about halfway through and finally had to admit that I had no idea what it was about, what was happening, why the characters were behaving the way they were, what the point was.

    But I don't call it "gibberish" just because I can't understand it. Our cleaning lady was born in Colombia (García Márquez's country) and had read all of his novels--and loved them. And she had only a high school education.

    Mrs. Fraggle said, "Well I'm glad I know somebody I can discuss my schoolwork with!"

    Fortunately she also turned me on to Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian author who is also highly regarded and about as popular as García Márquez. I find his works very accessible and thought-provoking. I have a whole page of quotes I copied down out of his book The Alchemist.

    The "alchemist" is simply a traveler who has earned everyone's respect. The protagonist is invited into his camp for dinner, and to his surprise he is offered wine. He says, "But you're a Muslim! Don't your people believe that alcohol is evil?"

    The alchemist replies, "It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil. It's what comes out of their mouths that is."
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.

Share This Page