tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post3011028916927279423..comments2024-03-17T11:05:22.464+00:00Comments on The Life And Opinions of Andrew Rilstone: The Book That Refused To Be Written Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-79907967332881468202019-03-25T11:29:54.460+00:002019-03-25T11:29:54.460+00:00Well, SK, your position makes sense if your goal i...Well, SK, your position makes sense if your goal in interacting with art is to come to a correct judgement of its value. But as I hope I conveyed in my first comment, I'm more interesting in what experience I have of it. As a child, I enjoyed <i>The Magic Faraway Tree</i>, which I would now consider literature. But that judgement doesn't invalidate the enjoyment I experienced as a child.<br /><br />And regarding <i>Infinity War</i>, I am very glad to have two different experiences: that of seeing the ending "cold", and subsequently that of watching the film while knowing what is coming.Mike Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039663158335543317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-81229110675600110442019-03-24T20:33:26.137+00:002019-03-24T20:33:26.137+00:00My position was that the first time of seeing a fi...<i>My position was that the first time of seeing a film, or reading a book, is different from all the others: not necessarily, better, but different. And I don't want to miss out on that different experience.</i><br /><br />Is the experience the important bit, though? Does the experience really matter at all?<br /><br />Imagine something of which you could truthfully say (and it seems a plausible enough thing): 'the first time I read it I enjoyed it; but then as I read it more and more I came to see that it actually was not very good at all'. <br /><br />Assuming your subsequent (more informed) judgements are correct (and they seem more likely to be, especially if your first experience was s a child before developing proper critical faculties, and with less experience to draw on), doesn't that just mean that the first experience was mistaken? <br /><br />Jumping (perhaps too far, perhaps not) is it possible that, in fact, first experiences may be actively misleading? If the first experience is enjoyable might that not make you think that a book was good when in fact it was not? Or conversely, might a bad first reading make you think a book which is in fact good and rewarding of subsequent analysis, is rubbish?<br /><br />After all, with people, we always say not to judge on first impressions. The person who appears charming the first time you meet them may well turn out to be a cad, and 'spoilers' might have given you an indication of their true character before you were swept away by mere 'experience'. There are Wickhams in the world, and Darcies. <br /><br />So ideally — just as you would not judge a book by its cover — you ought not to judge it by the first reading. To judge truly, you must never read anything for the first time; or at the very least, you must never read anything without being thoroughly spoilt.SKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102522819364312684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-17406448364159863132019-03-22T13:07:06.247+00:002019-03-22T13:07:06.247+00:00Not too bad, actually :-)Not too bad, actually :-)Mike Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039663158335543317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-39899038331927648432019-03-22T13:03:41.697+00:002019-03-22T13:03:41.697+00:00I hope that was worth waiting for, I hope that was worth waiting for, Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-73756452957953394432019-03-22T13:03:23.755+00:002019-03-22T13:03:23.755+00:00(*) Lemon entry, my dear Watson, (*) Lemon entry, my dear Watson, Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-14469842321952897102019-03-22T13:02:38.314+00:002019-03-22T13:02:38.314+00:00My apologies I split a stupidly long essay into th...My apologies I split a stupidly long essay into theee and the footnote is still at the bottom of part 3.<br /><br />Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-21630708537556975702019-03-22T09:35:03.406+00:002019-03-22T09:35:03.406+00:00… from Basil Brush and Sesame Street and the joke ...<i>… from Basil Brush and Sesame Street and the joke about painting the door yellow (*)</i><br /><br />I assume there was meant to be a footnote to go with that asterisk?Mike Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039663158335543317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-55960039431987637202019-03-22T09:34:13.295+00:002019-03-22T09:34:13.295+00:00That is why "spoilers" are such a terrib...<i>That is why "spoilers" are such a terrible sin. They make it impossible to ever read a books for the first time.</i><br /><br />I think this is dead on. I was having this very conversation with my middle son on Wednesday night, with respect to films. He made the quite correct point that we watch films that we love many times, and enjoy them just as much — maybe more — on the second and subsequent viewings. So why worry about spoilers? My position was that the first time of seeing a film, or reading a book, is different from all the others: not necessarily, better, but different. And I don't want to miss out on that different experience.<br /><br />A case in point: as a family, we went to see <i>Infinity War</i> not knowing anything about how it finished. As a result we walked out of the cinema at the end absolutely stunned. That doesn't mean we didn't also love the film when we've seen it again since: but <i>that</i> specific experience was unique to an unspoilered first viewing.Mike Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039663158335543317noreply@blogger.com