Discussion on Chapter 1 - Literature in the Reader - affective stylists

Chapter 1 – Literature in the Reader: Affective Stylistics.

Fish wrote the article in response to a letter he received from Ralph Cohen in 1970.  He had made an analysis about the work, Paradise lost by Milton.  I had not read Paradise lost so I looked it up at my local library and I am actually reading it now.  I wanted to read the poem first before I read chapter 1 but it is an intense poem so I finally read the article by Fish, but to give you an overview of the poem I pasted an editorial review from the Amazon website.

“Review

Epic poem in blank verse, one of the late works by John Milton, originally issued in 10 books in 1667 and, with Books 7 and 10 each split into two parts, published in 12 books in the second edition of 1674. Considered by many scholars to be one of the greatest poems of the English language, Paradise Lost tells the biblical story of the fall from grace of Adam and Eve (and, by extension, all humanity) in language that is a supreme achievement of rhythm and sound. The main characters in the poem are God, Lucifer (Satan), Adam, and Eve. Much has been written about Milton's powerful and sympathetic characterization of Satan. The Romantic poets William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley saw Satan as the real hero of the poem and applauded his rebellion against the tyranny of Heaven. Many other works of art have been inspired by Paradise Lost, notably Joseph Haydn's oratorio "The Creation" (1798) and John Keats's long poem "Endymion." Milton wrote a companion piece, Paradise Regained, in 1671, which dramatizes the temptation of Christ. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature”

http://www.amazon.com/John-Milton-Paradise-Lost/dp/002338235X

You could also get the poem from the online literature library, http://www.literature.org/authors/milton-john/paradise-lost/

Fish state that “the difficulties one experiences in reading the poem are not to be lamented or discounted but are to be seen as the manifestations of the legacy left to us by Adam when he fell”

While reading any text we are doing an activity and we experience something while we are reading.  It could be confusion, a difficulty following a certain path, or taking us between two or more alternative paths.  This experience is an event and the event is the meaning of the text. 

To get the meaning from a text as a reader we need to ask what does this do?  An author will place words in a certain order.  Use different word to give an experience for the reader and this experience contributes to the meaning.  Fish used the example of the line

“Nor did they not perceive the evil plight”

The not in the sentence gives the reader a pause, it is intrusive.  There is a double negative, what do I do with this.  I may ask the question did they perceive (two negatives make a positive), or they did not perceive since Not, not perceive is not the same as them perceiving.  So as a reader I would be wondering what is happening and need to continue reading to answer my confusion.  Milton put the words in a certain order.  If he wanted them to perceive he could of just left out the not, but he put it in.  So as I read I would see that the angles did both.  Fish points out that the angles “do perceive the fall, the pain and the gloom but they can’t see the moral significance of their situation.” 

The meaning of the text is the feeling the experience we take during the reading.

However Fish outlines there will be a consensus of meaning since we have literary circles and the set the guide lines.   He comes up with the phrase informed reader. 

Informed reader

                1.  a competent speaker of the language

                2. has knowledge of lexical sets, collocation probabilities, idioms ect.  

                3. has literary competence.

So why is there so much disagreement on the meaning of texts?  Fish answers this by saying we disagree with the response to the response.

I really like the quote by C.S Lewis where he is commenting on the disagreement he has with F.R. Leavins.   C.S. Lewis’ quote sums up Fish’s point that there are not multiply meanings.

“It is not that he and I see different things when we look at Paradise Lost.  He sees and hates the very same things that I see and love.”

The other important bit of information I got from this chapter is an answer to a question I had after reading Rosenblatt.  I could not figure out how to describe the feeling after I read a non literature text like a chemistry book.  Fish sums up the reading by saying the linguistic experience of a non –literature text is “ no attitude and the emotion is a passionate coldness.”