Reading & Imagery
...An essential part of reading enjoyment is sinking through the page into
the world of the book, and it seems possible that without imagery, this
world-creating process might be greatly impeded.
Nell, p.216
Our imaginings are imprecise and misty, writes William
Gass (1972), and characters in fiction are "mostly empty canvas.
I have known many who passed through their stories without noses, or heads
to hold them" (p.45)... "I want to know what Modesty and Giles
do, not what they look like." ...Constructing
images takes time, adds Gass, and slows the reader's flow; we cannot,
while imaging, keep up with the intricate conceptual systems that the author
may spin like a spiderweb in a single sentence.
Nell, p. 217
