I was in the library reading LOTR (Just finished the Fellowship, my god would I recommend it!), and at the beginning of the session, I was reading the book and the descriptions and prose were so magnificent that I willed myself to try imagining what everything looked like in my mind’s eye. So this raises a question. Do you see the picture while reading? If so, how vividly? And is it automatic?
Just to clear up confusion, I’m not just talking about understanding the text. Or retroactively creating an image. I’m talking about while reading the text, you imagine what’s happening visually. And when something changes in the text, say the grass becoming dimmer, do you imagine that process happening?
I guess I don’t really understand the question. Isn’t visualizing what you’re reading kind of the default thing to do when reading fiction?
Well, given some of the answers I’ve received, my guess would be “Depends”. I’ll try illustrating with an example.
When in Moby Dick, they talk about the pungent smell of codfish or saltwater, do you imagine the smell of codfish, or Ishmael and Queequeg clamming up their nostrils? Or do you just understand that the cook was a bad chef? And, more importantly, do you do that automatically? For everything you read?
Like when you read the phrase “Toe the line”, do you imagine runners inching their toes forward to get the most minimal of advantages? Or you do understand it as just a figure of speech, meant to denote anticipation of something?
Depends on the context and how it’s being used. If it’s used as a figure of speech, I would not visualize the literal act of someone toeing a line. If the author used that particular phrase to describe the physical actions of a runner getting ready to go, then I think I would visualize that.
I’m hesitant to expand on the Moby Dick example without seeing the full text of that scene.
Not everyone can.