Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
> At 12:41 PM 9/25/2009, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> >"You in the little dinghy astern there." Jim Devine quotes Marx
> >paraphrasing a similar remark in Dante's Comedy.
>
> On the other hand, this says that the writer wants/needs the reader,
> otherwise why write it down?
>
I would agree, with this qualification: A Dante, a Marx, a Pound wants
readers BUT he/she can't let that shape his/her writing! It's a desire
which exists before and after the act of writing, but is put in brackets
or repressed _during_ the act.
Unless, of course/ he/she has no desire other than to produce a successful pot-boiler. And not always even then. There was a novel some years ago (don't remember title, author, or year -- just a brief review of it) in which the central character was a porn writer who wrote porn primarily to help himself get an erection.
Carrol