Readers are less and less seen as mere non-writers, the subhuman other or flawed derivative of the author; the lack of a pen is no longer a shameful mark of secondary status but a positively enabling space, just as within every writer can be seen to lurk, as a repressed but contaminating antithesis, a reader.

Summary

This quote suggests a shift in the way readers are perceived. Rather than being viewed as inferior to writers, they are now seen as valuable individuals in their own right. The absence of a pen, traditionally associated with writing, is no longer considered a sign of lower status but rather as a space that allows readers to engage with and interpret the written word. Additionally, the quote implies that even authors themselves possess a hidden reader within them, suggesting that reading and writing are interconnected and mutually influencing activities.

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