I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the word begin to move around. Stressed accents begin to invert. The word abandons its meaning like an overload which is too heavy and prevents dreaming. Then words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young. And the words wander away, looking in the nooks and crannies for new company, bad company. Gaston Bachelard (Bachelard: 1960 6)
It seems fair to say that Gaston Bachelard hasn’t quite mastered language; he is being led a merry dance by the words he tries to read. And yet, far from being whimsical and undisciplined, Bachelard’s way of reading, when combined with sound scholarship, is amazingly effective. This is because he is responding to words in a critical way.
This section will show you how to respond to words critically.
