On the Formative Work of Reading

[dragonyphoenix]

"Stories matter hugely, but in a way that’s too complex and variable for us to predict - and trying to police it is an exercise in futility because there’s no set of criteria we can conceive that will help us draw lines in the right places. There ARE no right places - there are only individual people whose responses cannot be managed in advance, however good our intentions. Especially not if we are concerned – as we absolutely should be – with preserving readers’ access to stories that can help them heal, or find their voices, or bring new insight. There is no way to formulate a set of boundaries that anticipates what a given story will do for a given reader in a given moment. None." - teaser from On the Formative Work of Reading