Part 2 : WHAT TYPE OF READER ARE YOU?

By: Jayson Patalinghug

Blog: www.jaysoncnu.blogspot.com

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This article is solely written to provide information and not to stereotype anyone. As a literature teacher I feel the burden of keeping the literary value of what we write and read in this blog. I hope this will serve its purpose and I would like to thank Mike, Dalisay and all MSOB followers for the support and attention they gave on my short articles.

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Expressive Reader

Thanks to those who read and share their thoughts on this post. This is written for educational purpose only and nothing more. It intends to help us understand what type of reader we are and how we decode every information we read.

In the previous post we have learned that there are readers who looked at a certain piece as a mirror of reality. This type of readers looks for archetypes that would bridge fictitious events, characters and setting into the real world.

Another type of readers are those who treat a literary work primarily in relation to the author. It defines a certain piece as an expression, or overflow, or utterance of feeling, or as product of the writer’s feelings. The theory tends to judge the work by its sincerity to the writer’s vision or the state of mind. Such views were developed mainly by the Romantic critics and remain current in our time too.

Expressive readers believe that authorial individuality is something to be conveyed by a literary work, and to go beyond objectivist theorists’ prescription that a writer’s effort should be to flee personality and that criticism should focus on the text and not to the writer. 

  

If you are this type of reader then you must have chosen to read a certain story associated to your favorite writer. Some would ask, “Who wrote that story?” And after knowing the answer, they already pre-judged the work without even reading it. This is mainly what is happening to the PEBA competition where Mike Juha joined. There are readers who throw negative comments on his entry because what they have in their mind is that a gay themed story is written by a gay writer. Or they do not bother to read the entry anymore and judged it immoral because they know that the writer is gay and his works would only express homosexual immorality.

It is clear that readers influenced with this theory are more bias in their judgement. They do not analyze and criticize the text but they directly attack the one who wrote it.

Sources: History of Literary Criticism by Maggie Mertens Encyclopedia Britannica: Literary Criticism, Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Literary Criticism. 

Next Topic: Objective Reader

That Thing

By: Mikejuha
email: getmybox@hotmail.com
fb: getmybox@yahoo.com

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Each time I go inside a men’s room, one of the most important things in the world will be at the mercy of my hand; that thing which is the most abused, most maligned, and yet the shiest but most intriguing part of me.

Inside the men’s room, I think of it more as a thing that ejects my waste-water, something like an exhaust although there were times I asked myself why in all parts of my body, it sticks there. I know it’s a stupid question.

Sometimes, I can’t help but feel humiliated to think that a thing like that dangles in between my legs. Sometimes too, I think of it as a hideous monster or an ugly cigar that deserves to be burned but not to be smoked (a, er... just depending on how one smokes it – lol!).

I failed to appreciate its marvelous sight; splendid as the leaning tower of Pisa or the Eiffel tower of Paris as it stands proudly tall (and crazy figments of my mind fly forward or backward in time).

Regardless of its size, it plays a big part in the creation process of the universe; no less than the trees, the stars, nor any of the cosmic matters above. It is an object of interest; something which someone can say “exclusively mine” but can always share with everyone. And how lovely the world could go if everyone shares it with one another!

So, it’s one of the reasons why the world goes round and round with its eight billion and increasing reasons; why there are the smiles of kids and the little cries of babies; why wives rise up in the middle of their midnight slumber, fall on their knees in all adulation in front of them and sing “Hallelujah!”, deep throat.

It is the reason why the kingdom of Cleopatra fell, Juliet willingly laid her life, Venus mourned deeply for, and brides eagerly look forward to their grand wedding days so that when and all the visitors leave and they could have it all… Then there were Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty who, because of it, lived happily ever after.

Now you know why it’s a lady’s choice. And mother knows best!

People in all walks of life - the “young ones” and the “young once” together - dance to the tune of it. And the world has never been the same again, er... just a bit over-populated but for which the condom factories made lucrative business.

Gandhi, Einstein, Plato, and all the great men who sprouted off from this same fatherhood as this one I have made the world worthy to live in. With their sublime vision, the future has never been brighter. And I resolve never to fail their dream – to spread the milk of human kindness, the deep-throat way.

So the next time I rush into that men’s room, I should take my time and hold it gently. I may shake it well after using but very carefully and with my head up high in all dignity and pride. And while my fingers clutch it to complete its ritual, I need to recite this affirmation: “The future and the supremacy of all human races lie in what my hand is holding”.

There are many reasons why people die. But, man, there is only one great reason why our race lives: it’s that thing!