Warsi | 1

Modassar Warsi

Ma Eng, 2nd Sem.

Prof. A V Ashok

March 22, 2011

Phenomenology of Reading
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.

-T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets (1936)

The world is hardly conscious of the passing time. The fetish with division into the lowest

possible denomination has led to the division of time into three discreet entities; past, present and

future. Whereas time is a continuous flow without any disjoints. This seems a digression from

the phenomenology of reading as such but nothing is beyond time, not even literature. It is then

important to trace the continuity of matters rather than limiting oneself to one perspective and

not allowing the million others to highlight their vitality. A literary text is considered as a

creation of the author and what is believed by most of the people is that there should exist,

between the creator and the creation, a relation that has been formulated by religion. It is to say

that a text should mean what its author wanted it to mean. So, for a longest stretch of time author

or a literary creator was kept at the apex of the world of aesthetics. Therefore, a book remained a

private property of the author and any interpretation of the text other than his was deemed a

wrong treatment to that book. There was no importance given to the literary text for it does not

exist without its writer and far less to the reader who was considered to be playing only a tertiary

role in the artistic space.

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The world saw a gradual change that has manifested itself by the second half of the twentieth

century. There occurred a role reversal owing to the important function that is (actually) played

in the creation of a literary work and its lifespan that generally extents to more than the life of its

creator. The pivotal role is played by the oft neglected readers for what is the significance of a

book that has never been written. This raises the similar question that Thomas Gray raised in his

famous lines: “Full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert

air”. It is but obvious that when one decides to write a book, one’s main motto is to have readers

to read it. Had it been contrary, a book never would have been written. The pretense to justify the

same by claiming that a writer writes for oneself again does not answer the question. The whole

idea of the book or the essence of book itself has been there in one’s mind then why waste so

much of resources on putting it to paper which already is in existence in one’s consciousness. It

is nothing but a desire for readership and broadening oneself through one's reader. In my

opinion, this is applicable even when one reads one’s own work. At such moments there occurs a

compartmentalization of self into author and reader.

The phenomenology of reading captures this very idea. It elaborates the observation of the act of

reading and depicts how reading is important in ways one normally never considers. This mode

has removed the author from his previously high rank. He enjoys the privilege of his lofty status

no more as he is not even considered to be existent. "The Death of the Author" by Roland

Barthes is a pioneer work that formulated the same ideology. It is in readers' hand that a book

continues to live and grow if one comes out of the cocoon of fixed and closed meaning; the one

esteemed by the realists. It is but unproductive and not desired that a book should be governed by

author's direction. This leads to authoritarianism and totalizing of meaning which portrays just a

small fraction meaning as a whole emptying the text of its larger significance. There is no such
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concept as a pure text. Similarly, there is not even the innocence of its representation. It is

important here to state that everything that we perceive around us is not at all that object itself

but how it appears to our mind. Edmund Husserl came up with this concept of consciousness

being intentional. Perception is, in reality, a re-presentation of the actual truth in our

consciousness. So, not only the art is twice removed from reality, everything we observe around

us is similarly a mimesis of the original that is beyond our knowledge.

What Iser Wolfgang believes is that meaning is nothing that a reader deciphers when he reads

but the act of reading is a complex meaning in itself. He said that "meaning is no longer an

object to be defined, but is an effect to be experienced". This is to assert that the process of

reading is not just reading but there is something that proceeds from it. There are a lot of

activities at work at one time when a reader takes up a book and read it, generally in solitary. It is

a relation- between a literary text and its reader- where there is no interference from outside. It is

a conversation between two friends as Margaret Hunsberger put it. It is not a monologue where

the transfer is unidirectional that is to say that only a book speaks to the reader. The reader is

equally active in the process. This relation could be exemplified via a wonderful image where the

reader and the book come together like lover-beloved. A book with its certain elements has a

power to attract a group of people towards itself. The reader takes up certain book for reading

with some expectations and preconceived notion about the same. However, reading is a dynamic

procedure where there are changes going on every moment. The phenomenological approach

analyzes this route where a balance is sought out through the forceful cognitive act of reading. It

is an attempt to trace the way a book appears to one's consciousness and its intricacies.

We do not read a book as a whole. Had it been so, it would have been mandatory to read any

book at one go, at one sitting. A book could be sliced into small segment, i.e. a sentence could be
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taken as the smallest building block of any book. When a reader starts reading a book, he does so

with certain notion about it without having actually read it. He could have anticipated from the

review given at the back cover or the title might suggest him with some insights with which he

starts reading. His expectations are inspected as soon as he reads the first sentence. At this stage

there is a probability of two courses (both happens actually). Either what he read in the first

sentence will appear in coherence with what he as predicted or he is thrown out of his wits as

what has happened is nowhere in his mind. Something new and unique takes place during

reading as mind gets acquainted with ideas it was not previously aware of. This allows not only

for a changed expectation from the next sentence but there will also be an attempt in

consciousness to modify what has been in mind before the reading has begun. It is to say that our

preconceived notion also gets modified. This process continuously goes on till the very last

sentence of the book. There is an ongoing process of anticipation, their correction and a revised

expectation from the events that are yet to unfold. That why it is said that reading in not only

reading forward but reading forward and backward instantaneously.

Now a question arises as to why we read some books more than once. One would argue that

while in the first reading itself the book has left its impression on the mind of the reader then is it

not a waste of time in re-reading it! A book is not a limited source which will get exhausted of its

meaning in one reading or either single reading by millions of readers. Every reader will get a

somewhat different picture in mind matching nobody else's depiction. That is why discussing a

book with friend is a very productive exercise as there occurs a sharing and mutual exchange of

two interpretations. A book is not a complete entity but they are a collection of fragments loosely

bounded by the narrative. It is then the reader who joins these small sections into one coherent

whole, and every reader does it differently. The example of millions of stars in the dark sky is
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most appropriate and illuminating where every stargazer is free to form his own set of

constellations. A book then becomes a jigsaw puzzle with each piece with such ends that could

be attached to any other pieces to produce numerous diverse patterns. A book is like a

kaleidoscope where although the shards are limited, the beautiful designs they could form are

never exhaustive. A book is never complete but with times the gaps that are there is filled in by

readers and there occurs an addition of meaning. This is opposite of what is concerned with the

innocence of representation but the new meaning that gets attached to a text gives it a new

dimension altogether.

However, the validity and usefulness of re-reading of a text arises from the fact that human being

is biased as well as are frantic to changes. While reading, a reader continuously chooses one of

the perspectives out of many possible options made available by the text. There is always an

ongoing selection and rejection of potential meanings. Our existing psyche chooses the

implications that are consistent with it. However, this reading with a closed consciousness is not

expected to alter the readers. Change is an ever desired phenomenon but it comes at a cost and

that too when one allows stability to stand aloof. The reading could be beneficial only when one

does away with one's consciousness before one engages with any text. Besides, one has to be

ready to accept what a text has on offer. This is not as simple as it appears for there is a huge

cognitive stress at stake before a book could have potency enough to transform any reader. So, a

book that disturbs the reader is a harbinger of change. It is only through reading a text again can

one acknowledge the many different perspective one has cared to omit in the first reading.

Multiple readings can be effective in bringing to forefront those views that escaped our vision

before. Also, one observes a book from a different level then as the reader is already aware about

what is to come. The anticipations of the reader will be quite different when a reader reads the
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book again. If one is quite acceding enough, the book will enlarge the mental space of the reader,

acting as a text of bliss.

It is equally important to point out the limitations of the phenomenology as applied to the reading

process. Although we observed that a text allows for indefinite interpretation and conception but

one cannot overlook the limitation that is posed by the text itself. Taking the example of cluster

of stars where they can be joined in many ways, there is always a limiting factor and that is stars.

The book also invites a group of reader with intended reading. This means that a book captures

author's consciousness as he lays it bare on paper and invites others to get indentified with the

same. This summons is then answered and could be deciphered by readers. Any book does not

have a power to attract everybody but rather appeals to a certain section of the readership public.

This is what Georges Poulet calls a combination of consciousness. The content of a book, its plot

and characters act as a limiting factor. After all, it is a conscious effort on the part of a reader to

unveil author's consciousness, about which even the author might not be aware about. Again, it

also depends upon the literary competency of the readers; how equipped they are with the tools

with which to dig deep into a text. The phenomenology is an observation and there is always a

possibility of a biased observation!

Therefore, the application of the concept of phenomenology on the process of reading has

emerged as the best possible method to ransack the unchallenged authority of realist mode. It

questioned the biases that were concealed in such approach, never acknowledging the variation

between real and apparent, and between the whole and its part. This paradigm helped a text out

of the narrow clutches of the author and his intentions. It got its freedom where everyone

(reader) has been vested with power to look at a text in one's own unique way; without it being

branded as misinterpretation. All interpretations are valid for a text if it does not transgress the
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limits of logic. Today, even that is not a problem at all for the line between logic and illogical

has thinned and has paved a way for greater knowledge through greater freedom of analysis.

What has remained unchallenged for long did not stand any chance with the emergence of this

new consciousness about consciousness.