But the System Never Makes Mistakes!

I had a funny experience the other night and it makes me chuckle over those who invest so much into "authority" and "the system" as though it never makes any mistakes. I decided I wanted to start reading Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser just because it's been on the shelf and I'd heard of him yet had never actually read him, so now I wanted to.

So here's what happened: it was evening, and I opened the book and began reading the introduction which was dry and boring, and I just then eventually ended up skipping over it. Then I started reading the main text, and I thought it was a weird way to begin the book. I kept thinking, "hmm, he must be a philosophical writer." I thought that maybe Kundera had been influenced by him, since Kundera tends to delve into bits of philosophy throughout his novels, albeit he's not dry like this.

I actually got to about 15 pages in, when I finally asked, "now what does any of this have to do with Sister Carrie?" I flipped ahead to see if there was any dialogue but all I saw were some graphs and charts. Graphs and charts in a novel? Finally, 15 pages later I caught on (it was late and I'm going to use that as my excuse for taking so long to finally catch on):

What I was reading wasn't Sister Carrie at all, but Matter and Memory by Henri Bergson. I got to thinking how such 2 different books could have gotten mixed up--the Bergson book with a Sister Carrie cover? Someone wasn't paying attention.

But the interesting thing to note is that for the first few pages or so I was actually open to what I was reading, I thought it was an unusual yet interesting way to begin, and this little trick that was played on me actually gave me an idea for one of my own books. Granted, as the pages went on, this book was very dry and I wouldn't call it a fluid or fun read, but to begin with something that one does not expect--that was fun to experience, though for it to work, it has to somehow tie into a story.

Some of the ideas Bergson was talking about were interesting but they just weren't that entertaining as a read. This is why I much prefer philosophical novels to reading straight philosophy because it's not just about the ideas themselves but the way they are expressed.

Anyhow, publishers make all sorts of mistakes, as you can see, though much of them involve their choices. Yet I still want to read Sister Carrie though it won't be this version!

Update: I have since read Sister Carrie and reviewed it here. I recommend it--it's a great read. The Bergson book will have to wait for another day.