It depends. On quick inspection if it seems dry or a deep analysis put it off til after the novel. I’m not that worried about spoilers per se, the basic plot of most fiction reprinted with a foreword isn’t exactly a secret, but I’d like my initial impressions to be natural as possible.
While on the subject…Nabokov famously hid the final fate of a few characters in “Lolita” in that book’s fake ‘Foreword’; any reader skipping over the section missed out on a very important plot point.
This little joke of his only works because even in the 1950s readers rushed past the introductory parts on the way to the good stuff. The urge to skip ahead puts you in good company.
It depends. On quick inspection if it seems dry or a deep analysis put it off til after the novel. I’m not that worried about spoilers per se, the basic plot of most fiction reprinted with a foreword isn’t exactly a secret, but I’d like my initial impressions to be natural as possible.
While on the subject…Nabokov famously hid the final fate of a few characters in “Lolita” in that book’s fake ‘Foreword’; any reader skipping over the section missed out on a very important plot point.
This little joke of his only works because even in the 1950s readers rushed past the introductory parts on the way to the good stuff. The urge to skip ahead puts you in good company.