"How?"

"Because you let him."

"He leaves you gaps to fill in for him. Sarasine will describe a scene where it is snowy outside, the trees and ground are covered in white powder. Well everyone has seen snow and can bring some sort of picture will all sorts of things in it that Sarasine himself left out. Even if you haven't seen snow, there are plenty of other gaps in the text that that person will fall into. He evokes things he know we will draw connotations from, things that everyone has seen to sucker you in. I bet that a well respected author, or even some author that no one has ever heard of, like you David, could write complete shit down and someone somewhere would read some meaning into it. You know why?" I stare back, I can't believe I'm paying this guy to spout out his "pearls of wisdom" at me. "C'mon David, humor me."

"Why?"

"Because the reader wants to get something out of the work, or else he's feel like a complete ass hole for wasting however long it too him to read that damn book. Barthes wrote about all this in his book S/Z, it's fabulous, you should read it sometime."

"Isn't that the guy who said reading should be like an orgasm or something?"

"Oh yeah. He was talkin-"

I cut him off before I have to sit through another soliloquy, "Doctor do you think we could talk about something more pertinent to me and my life? And how did that whole speech on Sarasine relate to me again?"

"Um, well, ....., if you didn't get it the first time around, you won't get it a second.."