By "misread" I don't mean a case in which a reader
constructs an interpretation different from my own (i.e., contrary
to "the author's"), but the active alteration of the basic "facts"
of the story (usually in the service of creating an interpretation
that the story could otherwise not sustain). Let me offer two
examples, both appearing in reviewers' discussions of my short
fiction. In one case, with respect to "Bettina's Bet," the reviewer
altered the crime with which the eponymous character was charged
and convicted from bodily mutilation to murder, which was a very
peculiar thing to do since the story makes clear that the victim
of the crime is still alive. In another case, with respect to
"Living Trust," the reviewer changed the occupation of a major
character from software developer (who has a history of receiving
death threats from physicians his software has put out of work)
to physician. In both cases the reviewer did not come close to
describing the story I had written.
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