Readerly
and writerly (or lisibile and scriptable.) texts are two opposite terms
identified with cultural scholar Roland Barthes and his post-structuralist
theory. Barthes’ theory of readerly and
writerly texts is presented and illustrated in detail in his book S / Z
(analysis of Balzac's story "Sarrasine"). The proposed distinction is
between a "readable" text - a bourgeois text that meets the reader's
expectations, and a "writable" text - an innovative and provocative
text that does not meet conventions and problematizes the relation to the world
described.
The
readerly text presents itself as reflecting reality as it is, and invites the
reader to a passive, receptive and devoted reading to the author's voice. It is
the realistic, classic text that describes existing things and creates
communication with the reader. This text addresses cultural codes and
conventions shared by the author and the reader. It can be read easily and with
pleasure, because it matches the classic narrative structure with which the
reader identifies
The writerly
text, on the other hand, highlights the gap and seam between the text and the
world, thereby activating the reader to active reading, to the creative
activity of writing the text through reading. The writerly text creates resistance to passive
and automatic reading of its meaning. This happens because the writerly text
does not allow the reader to connect to the position of the subject to which he
is accustomed. This text creates in the reader a crisis of representation in
relation to the world described. As a result, the world is perceived as
insecure - a world that does not provide the protection and quiet of the
bourgeois taste offered by the "readerly text".