Readers’Role in O Henry’s Short Novels

周鴻

【Abstract】O.Henry is crowned as “the Maupassant of America” and also be called “the Greatest Three Masters of Short Novels in the world”with the French writer Maupassant and the Russian novelist Chekhov. His short stories are popular all around the world for its ingenious plots and surprising endings. This thesis will focus on Chinese readers different views towards O.Henrys works and then give a brief introduction of readers horizon of expectation while reading his novels. At last， Ill propose my personal view of readers role in literature works， so as to emphasize that readers response is an indispensable part of a literature work.

【Key words】O.Henry； Readers response； Literature works

1.Different Views Towards O.Henrys Works

We all know that O Henry is honored as one of the Greatest Three Masters of Short Novels in the world and also be called “the Maupassant of America”. His short stories are best noted for its surprising endings and twisted plots， and have attracted a large number of people in most countries Some people think that the reason why O.Henrys short novels are so warmly welcomed by Chinese people is that its closely related to the profound social causes and the thought-provoking historical coincidence.[1] P8

O.Henrys short novels were introduced to China since 1936s and gained more and more important position with the growth of class struggle and the ideology of “politics are the most important”. The novels were thought to be the realistic literature which exposes the evil of the bourgeoisie. All his novels described the miserable lives of the proletariat and thus were regarded as the dagger that directly inserted into the heart of the bourgeoisie.

Later， most readers and critics spoke highly of his short novels for they think his works which boast sincere love， kindness， and the purest spirit of human beings are the best representatives of humanism. There are critics who hold that O.Henry is a great critical realistic writer since he showed his sympathy towards the poor and satirize the rich by mainly depicting the lives of people from poor classes and low status.

Another reason why O.Henry was highly recommended is because of his writing style. Most readers are obsessed with his shocking endings which often seem out of peoples expectation， but when you think it twice， you will find its quite reasonable. We call such endings as “O. Henry twist”. All these are readers positive reactions to O.Henrys work. However， there are readers who hold a quite opposite view with the general public.

Vice Professor Pan Xinglong of Southwest University of Finance and Economic states a totally different view towards O.Henrys works and refutes critics compliment to O.Henry in his monograph “O.Henry and His Works under a New Viewpoint”.① In the household story The Last Leaf， the old painter died from his own illness at last for he had painted the last leaf for the sick young painter in the rain， which helps to save the girls life. People have always been speaking highly of such kind of lofty spirits and showing their great respect to the old painter. Some readers think that O.Henry had caught peoples heart since every nation is in the pursuit of such kind of nobleness and kindness. However， professor Pan argues that its ridiculous that Johnsy linked her life with the ivy leaves and “Sue even let Sudie to buy port wine for her sick child and pork chops for her greedy self.” [6]P1457 He thinks “all these just showed the excessive affections and sensitivities that only belonged to the petit bourgeois and werent worthy of any compliments” [2] P46

In Pans opinion， old Behrman was just a fierce little old man who drank gin to excess； the old painter and the two young painters belong to two different worlds， and there should be no intersection between them. He also thinks that O.Henrys other novels are also not reasonable and lack logic of real lives. He couldnt see any loftiness， beauty in these novels except the artificial feelings， excessive sentiments， and ridiculous lives of the petit bourgeois. Thus， professor Pan thought O.Henrys works should not be the best representatives of the realistic literary works； In other words， his novels didnt worth their salt and they should not be praised by so many people.

2.Horizon of Expectation in O.Henrys Novels

Lets put aside whether professor Pans comments on O.Henrys works are right or wrong. Every reader can have his own opinions towards a work and no one can judge whether its right or wrong. What I want to say is that whether the comments are good or bad， at least O.Henrys works stirred peoples emotion and caught others attention. Thats the success of the work.

There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes. Not only different people have different feelings and experiences towards a same work， the reader himself may have different feelings towards a same work when he read in different time or space. In this way， a work is passed down because it was endowed with different meanings by people of different times or because it brings a same feeling and experience to people in different time and space. People can have different interpretations of O.Henrys novels. A reader can highly commend the ugly looking old painter for his selfless spirit to paint the last leaf in rain， which encourages Johnsy to keep living. At the same time， one can say that he is not so lofty； he is just a drunkard who failed in everything； the last leaf he painted is also for his own sake.

In O.Henrys novels， readers emotions and hearts are always changing with the plots. We may feel sad when Johnsy was counting the decreasing leaves and wonder that will she die the next morning. The last leaf would definitely fall after such a stormy night， however when we see the last leaf the next morning， we become as thrilled as Johnsy. When we read， we are expecting something， we expect Johnsy wont die， we expect to see miracles. Since the miracle is not a magic prescription which was found by a doctor in the nick of time， but a painted leaf. These horizons of expectation change frequently； all stories are full of conflicts or dramatic tensions that result in readers sudden loss， pain， unexpected joy or fear， and at times great fulfillment.

In fact， reading is also a process of discovery. Discovery is one form of esthetic pleasure， for it offers two distinct possibilities： first， to free the reader—even if only temporarily—from what he is and to escape from the restrictions of his own social life； second， actively to exercise his faculties—generally the emotional and the cognitive. [9] Pxiii When we read O.Henrys The Gift of the Magi or A Service of Love， we often put ourselves in the position of the protagonists and think what we will do if we are under that situation. “What was presented in the novel led to a specific effect： namely， to involve the reader in the world of the novel and so help him to understand it—and ultimately his own world—more clearly.” [9] Pxi By such kind of active reading， we may find the pure， sincere， and ideal love exists in our deep heart and feel like living in an ideal world that we all dreamed of.

Authors can only offer us the words or vocabularies， and it's a reader's responsibility to find out the meaning of the text by reading it. A limited passage can not tell everything that author wants to express， and“the participation of the reader will not be stimulated if everything were laid out in front of him.”[9]P31. During the process of discovery， readers will feel happy if they find something similar to their experiences in the daily life， but if things go to another direction， although they might feel disappointed， they also feel much more exciting and thrilling for they have found something new and something different. However， “Only when read constructively could books help readers to cure their melancholy or reach divine insights.” [7] P46 Only when readers devote themselves in a book and respond to it can they find what our Chinese said fine houses of gold and ladies as fair as jade.

3.Personal View of Readers Role in Literature Works.

The definition and evaluation of literature after about the year 1800 suggest that a good literature work should not contain utilitarianism， which means it should not pursue any worldly profit or fame. Objectively speaking， it should not be written for readers. [1]P38 Such thought of writing without utilitarianism makes readers be ignored for quite a long time.

In an interview "Face to Face" shown on CCTV13，② the hostess regarded the work of Mo Yan who just won the coveted Nobel Prize in Literature as a golden egg and the author as a hen who has caught the attention of the public. Mo Yan replied that：“If its a nice looking hen， it worth some attention. But if its only the egg that is shiny， dont waste your time looking at the hen.”Here Mo Yan concentrated on the text and reader but ignored the reader. Generally speaking， we may not always wonder what the hen looks like while we eat eggs and whether the egg is tasty or not is mostly depend on the egg eaters comments. You might think that your egg is great， if people say its bad， you will console yourself that the problem is not on your egg but on the egg eaters who have no such aesthetic ability to appreciate it. But if this is the truth， you really do not need to show your eggs. Once your eggs are exposed to the public， you have to accept all the judgments and bear the trial placed on them. The “egg” here represents the authors “text” and “eggs eaters” are “readers”. Thus， readers response is an important factor to judge the success of a literary work. However， a writer should not only write for his readers or even change his mind to cater for the readers interests. Otherwise， his work will lose its value and make others feel that he is too affectionate or is just pursuing fame or status.

Readers response is not only important in literature works， but also in translation. When talking about translation， Tan Zaixi once said： “to some extent， to check the reader's response to a translation work is like doing a market research and we are testing the public's reaction to a certain product. No matter how wonderful the product is in the perspective of theory and no matter how beautifully it was placed on the showcase， if people have no sound response to it， it cannot be accepted.”[4]P240 the same goes to a literary work， the classic works are so-called because they are read by people from generation to generation and people respond to them. In another word， no matter how great a work is， if it cannot attract readers or if people have no feeling about it， then it's a failure and cannot be passed down.

Readers reading process should not be ignored for there are so many books about comments； we have wonderful book reports and even some terrific adopted novels together with translation scripts which can also be regarded as the products of translators reaction to a certain literature work. All these constitute one part of literature works. “For this reason the literary work is to be considered not as a documentary record of something that exists or has existed， but as a reformulation of an already formulated reality， which brings into the world something that did not exist before.”[8] P x Everyone is a reader and since no one thinks exactly the same， we have thousands of reactions to a literature work， which helps diversify our culture.

Besides， “reading literary works is not a passive and isolated work； on the contrary， its a creation. A literary work can never be completed unless it was read by others. “[3]P252 Id like to compare the literary work as gold which buried underneath and the reader as the gold miner. If the gold is not unearthed， no one knows its valuable and glittering. Its the same reason that if a literature work cannot be read by a reader， its just a collection of words of sentences. Maybe its a masterpiece， but at least for the people who didnt read it or who had no reaction to it， its just a text， a bland passage. Therefore， I totally agree with what Iser said： “effects and responses are properties neither of the text nor of the reader； the text represents a potential effect that is realized in the reading process.”[8] Pix

All in all， readers response is an important part that makes literature works live on. Without readers， without their reactions， all the literatures are just like buried gold which can never show their values.

Annotation

① the English title was translated by myself

② 參見http：//www.kouyi.org/talk/1885.html

Reference

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[9]Wolfgang Iser. The Implied Reader： Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett [M]. Baltimore and London： The Johns Hopkins University Press， Baltimore and London， 1974.