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pretty_plantAfter I had reread The Iliad (which I hurriedly did because I had to return it to the library after two extensions), I suddenly remembered why I decided to not read introductions before the main text. (And I did read the Iliad translated by Fagles before the introduction by Knox, which was great and informative).
I had decided it a long time ago not just because of The Iliad but because of many famous works of great literary values. Because of their greatness, they tend to have very long introductions that give all the important plot points, twists, characters' developments and to top it all, analyses and opinions from whoever wrote the introductions. I remembered a particular case when the introduction basically gave me spoilers of the entire book although I don't remember the title for it is too long ago. It made me wonder why those introductions were included at the beginning of the books. Shouldn't the readers discover the plot themselves and have their own opinions of the characters and the plot before they read analyses by other people? Readers can always choose to read the introductions after like me but most people tend to read from start to finish, which mean they will read the introductions first. Why can't there be spoiler alerts in the introductions that reveal much of the book?
In the case of the Iliad, I am pretty sure most people start reading this book knowing pretty well what is going to happen. However, the introduction by Knox also analyzed important characters and events. I like it but I think the introduction also gave too much of Knox's own view for readers who had not actually read the text. For any books, introductions like that are always appreciated but I wish there are spoiler alerts for books whose plots are less well-known and more unpredictable.
I had decided it a long time ago not just because of The Iliad but because of many famous works of great literary values. Because of their greatness, they tend to have very long introductions that give all the important plot points, twists, characters' developments and to top it all, analyses and opinions from whoever wrote the introductions. I remembered a particular case when the introduction basically gave me spoilers of the entire book although I don't remember the title for it is too long ago. It made me wonder why those introductions were included at the beginning of the books. Shouldn't the readers discover the plot themselves and have their own opinions of the characters and the plot before they read analyses by other people? Readers can always choose to read the introductions after like me but most people tend to read from start to finish, which mean they will read the introductions first. Why can't there be spoiler alerts in the introductions that reveal much of the book?
In the case of the Iliad, I am pretty sure most people start reading this book knowing pretty well what is going to happen. However, the introduction by Knox also analyzed important characters and events. I like it but I think the introduction also gave too much of Knox's own view for readers who had not actually read the text. For any books, introductions like that are always appreciated but I wish there are spoiler alerts for books whose plots are less well-known and more unpredictable.
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Date: 2020-02-04 05:41 pm (UTC)To be fair, I have seen a few editions that do include spoiler warnings before the introduction, but you'd think it would still make more sense to just put the spoilery-analysis section at the end. I can't help feeling like it probably puts off casual readers, too—like, it creates a sense that these books are for people Analysing Great Literature (who, it's assumed, don't care about spoilers either because they're not there to enjoy the story or because they've already read the book) and not for people just reading books for fun.
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Date: 2020-02-04 10:06 pm (UTC)You've just worded it perfectly. I knew there was a reason it rankled me and I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
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Date: 2020-02-05 06:29 am (UTC)Absolutely! :D
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Date: 2020-02-06 04:33 am (UTC)The thing about those books is that the authors all claim they want to appeal to a wide audience but they regularly include extremely spoilery introductions in the beginning.
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Date: 2020-02-04 10:16 pm (UTC)One instance that annoys me to this day is a book where I had deliberately avoided the introduction, and then they included a spoiler in one of the footnotes! I like reading the footnotes as I go along, because they help explain historic words and contexts. But I absolutely do not want to be told "this description is reflected in two chapters' time when so-and-so is murdered". The very cheek! to assume that the only people reading the book are academics who know the story back to front already! How dare they! As if ordinary people have no right to enjoy classic literature too.
Wow. Apparently I'm more angry about this than I realised...
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Date: 2020-02-06 04:35 am (UTC)