Monday, April 4, 2011
Writer vs. reader
Some thoughts after reading the Ede-Lunsford reading: I agree that the fluidity of rhetoric and the interdependence of reading and writing is not always recognized. It seems that there is a need for one exact form or process that can be applied by anyone to any situation with success. However, there always exists a conflict between writer and reader, listener and speaker, and even between individuals that make up the audience. Ede and Lunsford make a great point when they say that "audience" is only a concept and can take on many forms. I feel too often readers/teachers can be narrow-minded when reading because they have an idea of "audience" that differs from the students. This in turn makes the writing process difficult because the students must tailor their style to suit their intended audience so they are being taught not how to write from their perspective but how to cater to the reader.
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As I read the article I couldn't help but to think the same way. I mean, as writers, I believe that your audience is always created. It seems to me that as I write, I create my audience and not cater my words to a specific audience. Even when I know that I am writing for someone specific, I am able to manipulate my words to make them sound like me.
ReplyDeleteWriting for an audience seems to take the focus and the power away from the writer, similar to what Sommers says in her article. Once you write for someone else, you loose control over your topic and you loose your voice. One's voice is what helps create a rhetoric that moves people, cookie-cutter papers bore an audience and sometimes push them away.