In this essay, Good Readers, Good Writers, Vladimir Nabokov talks about how to be a good reader, which makes you a good writer. I think that his thesis was that we cannot read with our hearts, or our brains, but we need to read with our spine. Nabokov says that, as a reader, we must remove all emotional connection and just use our imagination. He makes a good point where he says that even though we read a novel about, let's say, Jane Eyre, we cannot really look at it to show us history. Nabokov says that novels are just fairytales, and that we need to look at them with artistic views and imagination.
I think that this thesis is implicit, because Nabokov never comes out specifically and says the thesis. I just read the text and analyzed what he probably meant. I do think that he has a little part where part of the thesis comes out. I think it is in the very last page where Nabokov talks about how we must remained detached while we read. For example, Nobokov says, "In order to bask in that magic a wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine." He points out that to fully enjoy the author's creation, we need to remain detached and use our imaginations with little or no emotional connection.
Nabokov, Vladimir. "Good Readers and Good Writers." Lecture
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