So when having a conversation with another (possibly long dead) human being via their book, I find people often tend to focus on the words as though they were logical propositions. I am as much interested in tone and style. The “how” as much as the “what”. How does that work for you?
I agree; and this is what makes it feel more like a conversation, in the sense of a meeting not only of minds but also lives and personalities. In a sense, what's happening when you read a book in this way is that you're telling yourself a story in which the author you're reading becomes a character. The "how" of their writing fills out that sense of a life beyond the page: a worldview, with all its particularities and idiosyncrasies; little shocks of recognition and commonality; the almost uncanny sense that someone, somehow, is still there beyond the page, even though all that's left of them is words.
So when having a conversation with another (possibly long dead) human being via their book, I find people often tend to focus on the words as though they were logical propositions. I am as much interested in tone and style. The “how” as much as the “what”. How does that work for you?
I agree; and this is what makes it feel more like a conversation, in the sense of a meeting not only of minds but also lives and personalities. In a sense, what's happening when you read a book in this way is that you're telling yourself a story in which the author you're reading becomes a character. The "how" of their writing fills out that sense of a life beyond the page: a worldview, with all its particularities and idiosyncrasies; little shocks of recognition and commonality; the almost uncanny sense that someone, somehow, is still there beyond the page, even though all that's left of them is words.