A Reader's Response to AK Benedict's The Last Library
A Readers Response to “The Last Library”
The narrative ‘The Last Library’, by A.K. Benedict is a collision between real life and fantasy where meaningful past treasures can often be forgotten and disregarded in a fast paced world. In a way it invokes thought about a current issue in North American society today, the progression of new technologies and how we have become dependent on these new technologies as a source of entertainment. Modern day culture has been immersed in a craze of technology allowing immediate access to information and entertainment. Smart phones, tablets, social media sites, and all the vast information of the internet that is only clicks of a mouse away has caused people to forget the wonders that a library can hold. Much of Society has forgotten how to entertain itself through imagination by reading stories. The text is slightly ambiguous I feel, as though the author wants us to create our own meaningful interpretation of the story. ‘The Last Library’ is a narrative that critiques the idea of how modern day North American culture has seemed to have forgotten about the many wonders of past treasures. The story does this by focusing on the exaggerated view of a young girl, using fiction entwined with real life problems to help us as readers to reflect on the magic places your imagination can take you when reading a book. Interpretation of the written word is shaped by the reader’s own experiences and steers each reader, ambiguously at times, towards a meaning which will differ for each reader as his or her mind interprets specific moments.
The author puts forth clues in helping the reader to determine the implied reader of this text; I would consider myself to be closer to the implied reader. The implied reader can be defined as the reader imagined by the text (Grinnell 21). I have lived in a time where libraries were the primary and often times the sole source for knowledge and entertainment, as am I part of modern society
The narrative ‘The Last Library’, by A.K. Benedict is a collision between real life and fantasy where meaningful past treasures can often be forgotten and disregarded in a fast paced world. In a way it invokes thought about a current issue in North American society today, the progression of new technologies and how we have become dependent on these new technologies as a source of entertainment. Modern day culture has been immersed in a craze of technology allowing immediate access to information and entertainment. Smart phones, tablets, social media sites, and all the vast information of the internet that is only clicks of a mouse away has caused people to forget the wonders that a library can hold. Much of Society has forgotten how to entertain itself through imagination by reading stories. The text is slightly ambiguous I feel, as though the author wants us to create our own meaningful interpretation of the story. ‘The Last Library’ is a narrative that critiques the idea of how modern day North American culture has seemed to have forgotten about the many wonders of past treasures. The story does this by focusing on the exaggerated view of a young girl, using fiction entwined with real life problems to help us as readers to reflect on the magic places your imagination can take you when reading a book. Interpretation of the written word is shaped by the reader’s own experiences and steers each reader, ambiguously at times, towards a meaning which will differ for each reader as his or her mind interprets specific moments.
The author puts forth clues in helping the reader to determine the implied reader of this text; I would consider myself to be closer to the implied reader. The implied reader can be defined as the reader imagined by the text (Grinnell 21). I have lived in a time where libraries were the primary and often times the sole source for knowledge and entertainment, as am I part of modern society
Cited: Benedict, A.K. The Last Library. Paraxis 2011. Rpt. in Custom Course Materials: ENGL 153. Ed. George C. Grinnell. Kelowna: U of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, 2014. 217-224. Print. Grinnell, George C. Critical Practice: Critical Approaches to Narratives English 153. Kelowna: U of British Columbia, Okanagan campus, 2014. Print.