Mini Post: Perspective
“No two persons ever read the same book.” Truer words and all that, and while he spoke of books, Edmund Wilson could have been speaking of any form of art.
I know when I read a book, I may picture the characters differently than the author intended, or I may view a hero's rebellious nature as attractive when it's meant to be a cautionary tale, or I might find a villain amusing or even sympathetic when the author might have intended that character to be off-putting. If I don't enjoy a book, I ask myself if I didn't enjoy the book because it was truly bad, or if it was because I wanted the author to write it another way.
However we view art, in whatever form it might be, our unique perspective and interpretation is one of the things that makes art so appealing to a variety of people. Art (books, movies, paintings, sculpture, etc.) has the power to evoke emotions, and every individual has a different approach towards art and interprets it in their own way.
I also believe that to gain a genuine understanding of any form of art, be it books, movies, paintings, music, or nature, we should attempt to view it, at least once, through the eyes of its creator, for it is in their perspective that the true essence of the work can be found.
