Three Ways of Missing the Point: Dialogue V — On What One Is Doing When One Reads This

Characters:

Professor Quillibrace

Mr Blottisham

Miss Elowen Stray

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Blottisham:

I’ve become uneasy.

Quillibrace:

You say that as though it were new.

Blottisham:

Up to now, at least we were discussing things out there. Meaning. Wrongness. Theory. But I’ve begun to suspect—

Quillibrace:

—That you are implicated?

Blottisham:

That someone else is listening.

(A pause.)

Elowen Stray:

Listening where?

Blottisham:

Here. Now. Us. This conversation.

Quillibrace:

Oh good. You’ve noticed.

Blottisham:

You didn’t think to mention it?

Quillibrace:

I thought it sporting to see who would flinch first.

Elowen Stray:

So when someone reads this—

Quillibrace:

—They are not observing.

Blottisham:

They’re judging!

Quillibrace:

Worse. They’re participating.

Blottisham:

That’s outrageous. They haven’t said a word.

Quillibrace:

Neither does a match, until struck.

Elowen Stray:

When I read something carefully, I can feel myself leaning. Agreeing. Resisting. Sometimes rehearsing objections.

Blottisham:

Which proves my point! They’re evaluating correctness.

Quillibrace:

They’re rehearsing positions.

Blottisham:

Same thing.

Quillibrace:

Not at all. Evaluation assumes a fixed target. Rehearsal assumes future use.

Elowen Stray:

So reading isn’t consumption—it’s preparation?

Quillibrace:

Or calibration.

Blottisham:

Calibration to what?

Quillibrace:

To what the reader might say next, elsewhere, to someone who isn’t here.

Blottisham:

That seems… indirect.

Quillibrace:

Meaning always is.

Elowen Stray:

Then the reader isn’t trying to extract a message.

Quillibrace:

They’re testing a stance.

Blottisham:

Against what?

Quillibrace:

Against themselves.

Blottisham:

That sounds uncomfortably introspective.

Quillibrace:

Only if you believe the self is a private object.

Elowen Stray:

When I read something that unsettles me, I often argue with it silently.

Blottisham:

As one should.

Quillibrace:

And in doing so, you discover which assumptions rush to your defence.

Elowen Stray:

Yes. Some of them surprise me.

Blottisham:

So the reader is being diagnosed now?

Quillibrace:

No. The reader is diagnosing the text.

Blottisham:

You just said—

Quillibrace:

—and in doing so, reveals the instruments they brought.

Blottisham:

This is turning into a parlour trick.

Quillibrace:

All reflexivity looks like a trick until you notice it keeps working.

Elowen Stray:

So when I agree with you, Professor, that’s also meaningful?

Quillibrace:

Especially then.

Blottisham:

Because agreement can be lazy.

Quillibrace:

Or revealing.

Elowen Stray:

And when I disagree?

Quillibrace:

Then meaning sharpens.

Blottisham:

So the reader can’t win.

Quillibrace:

On the contrary. The reader cannot avoid playing.

(Another pause.)

Blottisham:

I object to being part of someone else’s experiment.

Quillibrace:

You object to it every time you read, too.

Blottisham:

Nonsense.

Quillibrace:

When you read, you supply tone, emphasis, patience, irritation. None of that is in the ink.

Elowen Stray:

So reading is an act of completion?

Quillibrace:

Of actualisation.

Blottisham:

Then the meaning of this dialogue isn’t settled yet.

Quillibrace:

It never will be.

Blottisham:

Even after the last word?

Quillibrace:

Especially then.

Elowen Stray:

Because that’s when the reader has to carry it somewhere else.

Quillibrace:

Yes. Into another conversation. Another silence. Another risk.

Blottisham:

I don’t care for this at all.

Quillibrace:

You’re reading it very well.

Blottisham:

Then let me ask them something.

Quillibrace:

Be my guest.

Blottisham:

What exactly do you think you’re doing right now?

(A longer pause.)

Elowen Stray:

Perhaps the better question is: what might they now find harder not to do?

Quillibrace:

Precisely.

Blottisham:

This is entrapment.

Quillibrace:

No. It’s an invitation with consequences.

Elowen Stray:

So reading isn’t passive.

Quillibrace:

It’s a rehearsal for responsibility.

Blottisham:

I preferred it when texts just meant things.

Quillibrace:

They still do.

Blottisham:

Without asking anything of me?

Quillibrace:

Ah. No.

(A final pause.)

Elowen Stray:

Then perhaps the question isn’t whether the reader understands this.

Quillibrace:

But whether they will notice where it next appears.

Blottisham:

In their own mouth.

Quillibrace:

Or their restraint.

Elowen Stray:

Or the moment they choose not to speak.

Blottisham:

You’ve ruined reading for me.

Quillibrace:

You’re welcome.

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End of Dialogue V