And I'm interested in their readers".
The canonised writers of the past have a tendency to assume a fixed expression in their readers' imaginations.
I would renounce those who feigned innocence or slight stupidity in order to create empathy in their readers; I would never fall into the trap of candor.
But other writers who had financial success manage to elicit in their readers an affection for the author that Rule never did.
We need our children to become fluent, eager and expressive writers, able to persuade, entrance and uplift with language, able to create empathy and delight in their readers.
All these texts, you can't help noticing, are in their way not unlike Mr. Portis's books in the degree of devotion and enthusiasm they evoke in their readers.
A 1991 survey of 5,000 Americans conducted by the Library of Congress to determine which book had made the greatest difference in their readers' lives listed To Kill A Mockingbird as second only to the Bible.
Some writers sought to provoke ever more "elevated" feelings in their readers: Victorian sentimentalists wrote tear-inducing scenes, often centered on the death of a child, in an effort to inspire social and political reform.
Sensation novels were the forerunners of the modern thriller, mystery, and tearjerker; heavy on adultery, blackmail, bigamy, secrets, madness, and melodramatic twists and revelations, they were known for creating physical "sensations" in their readers — goosebumps, shivers, a pounding heart, and, in melodramas such as Ellen Wood's "East Lynne," tears.
In their critical reader's notes Joanna's sisters point this out, speaking for Ms. Weber's readers as well.
