The Readers: A Writer's Therapeutic Dilemma
By
Ben Lerner
Summary
A fictional piece by Ben Lerner exploring the complex dynamics between a writer and his therapist, who have agreed that she won't read his work. The narrator grapples with the anxiety that his therapist's reaction to his writing—whether intense or indifferent—could distort their therapeutic relationship, especially since his protagonists closely resemble himself, blurring the line between author and persona.
Source
bskyThe Readers: A Writer's Therapeutic Dilemmanewyorker.comKey quotes
· 3 pulledIf you had an intense reaction to my writing of whatever sort, I'd worry it might influence how you related to me, but if you were more or less indifferent to it, I would feel devalued, misunderstood, rejected.
Your response, from my perspective, could only be too much or too little, and I'd always suspect your feelings about my writing, no matter how effectively you concealed them, had bled into your questions, your silences, your advice.
It would be one thing if I wrote fiction about Cromwell or aliens, but, given that my protagonists resemble me, how could I know you weren't mixing us up?
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