Readerly / Writerly

Readerly –

- A term used by literary scholar Roland Barthes (1915-1980)

- Refers to those types of texts that encourage us to remain (and enjoy) being readers – that is, to find pleasure in devouring a well-crafted to story

- The emotions we are supposed to feel, the experiences we are supposed to go through, the secrets we are supposed to find, have all been designed and crafted by masterful hand of the author

- Like a roller-coaster, we are encouraged to sit back and enjoy the ride that has been designed for us – also, like a roller-coaster, the text is pretty much the same for each person who reads it

- The text is fully complete by the time it reaches us – to use the words of Edward Brunner: the work of integrating all of the different pieces has already been done by the author, and the reader can proceed confidently, knowing the way has been prepared. So carefully has the work been assembled, so elaborately yet professionally, that reading will only deepen appreciation.

- We take in the text passively, we remain consumers, we stay in our seat, we enjoy what has been created for us

Writerly –

- Refers to those types of texts in which we are actively encouraged to take part in the creation of the text – not just what it means, but the actual production – we are encouraged to become writers, an active participant, co-producers

- The text is not fully complete by the time it gets to us – it is kind of a pre-text you might say, it needs us to complete it

- Meanings are not placed by the author for us to find – there is pleasure to be found in taking different routes through the text (particularly if the text encourages us to take different routes) or to wrestle with ideas without consideration of what the author meant by it – we are encouraged to notice, to pay attention, to find connections that are of our own design

- The readerly text is designed to make sense to us, it gives us everything we need, it provides us with it – In the writerly text, the way has not been prepared, it is not a narrative to be read in the traditional sense, it is a work in which the reader is required to acknowledge and participate in the writing process

- When you encounter a writerly text, you are not immediately sure what to do with it – it requires you to change your perspective, to reconsider how you are going to read, what you are going to do with the thing in front of you

- If the readerly text is a well prepared meal at a nice restaurant, the writerly text is a salad bar, a buffet - If the readerly movie is a summer blockbuster like Spiderman, the writerly text is a thinking movie – the most important thing is that we go out to eat sometimes for different reasons – sometimes you want a meal prepared for you, sometimes you want to make it yourself – sometimes you want a challenge, sometimes you don’t