30
DORIS LESSING
And from this kind of thought has emerged a new conclusion:
that it is not only childish of a writer to want readers to see what
he sees, to understand the shape and aim of a novel as he sees it,
but that his wanting this means that he has not understood a most
fundamental point - which is that the book is alive and potent and
fructifying and able to promote thought and discussion
only
when
its plan and shape and intention are not understood, because that
moment of seeing the shape and plan and intention is also the mo–
ment when there isn't anything more to be got out of it.
And when a book's pattern and the shape of its inner life is as
plain to the reader as it is to the author - then perhaps it is time to
throw the book aside, as having had its day, and start again on
something new.
