--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed…" description: "\"The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and failed musician, short-sighted, colour-blind, auditorily biased, who has read the books that I h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/anthony-burgess-1167_biased_the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapse_102783.jpg" --- # The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and… ![“The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and failed musician, short-sighted, colour-blind, auditorily biased, who has read the books that I have read.” quote by Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/anthony-burgess-1167_biased_the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapse_102783.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/anthony-burgess-1167_biased_the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapse_102783.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/anthony-burgess-1167_biased_the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapse_102783.jpg) > “The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and failed musician, short-sighted, colour-blind, auditorily biased, who has read the books that I have read.” [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Burgess imagines his ideal reader as a flawed, eclectic individual whose personal shortcomings mirror the contradictions within his own works. **In simple terms:** He wants readers who are imperfect and diverse, like his characters. Key Takeaway A writer seeks readers who share his own imperfections. Themes self‑identity imperfection literary audience humor Mood playful self‑deprecating Type literary satirical When to use this quote - book clubs discussing personal bias - writers reflecting on their target audience - people relating to characters with similar flaws Key Concepts the mirror between author and reader celebration of marginality Practical Applications - embrace personal quirks when interpreting literature - use self‑deprecating humor to connect with readers Questions to Reflect On - What does it mean for a reader to be 'lapsed' or 'failed' in relation to a text? - Can a writer truly know their ideal audience? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Blind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blind/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Catholic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/catholic/) [Colour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colour/) [Ideals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideals/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Musician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/musician/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Short sighted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/short-sighted/) ## Related quotes > [I'm an avid reader. Novels, non-fiction, comics, it doesn't matter. Best way in the world to feed your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reid-scott/i-m-an-avid-reader-novels-non-fiction-comics-it-doesn-t-matter-best/) [Reid Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reid-scott/) > [She had always been an unashamed reader of novels ...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-pym/she-had-always-been-an-unashamed-reader-of-novels/) [Barbara Pym](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-pym/) > [I'd hit thirty, I'd sort of failed as a musician, I'd failed as an artist I felt at the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-kaye/i-d-hit-thirty-i-d-sort-of-failed-as-a-musician-i-d-failed-as-an/) [Paul Kaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-kaye/) > [I'm a failed musician rather than a successful writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvine-welsh/i-m-a-failed-musician-rather-than-a-successful-writer/) [Irvine Welsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvine-welsh/) > [I'm a semi-failed writer, but I'm a capital-F Failed musician.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-mohr/i-m-a-semi-failed-writer-but-i-m-a-capital-f-failed-musician/) [Joshua Mohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-mohr/) > [No matter how successful I may get, I'll always be a failed musician, sitting at a concert double-fisting overpriced twenty-ounce beers, wishing it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bert-kreischer/no-matter-how-successful-i-may-get-i-ll-always-be-a-failed-musician/) [Bert Kreischer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bert-kreischer/) > [“With this book I hope what I always hope—that readers will nod their heads (not constantly, you know, but at the odd juncture) and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jincy-willett/with-this-book-i-hope-what-i-always-hope-that-readers-will-nod-their/) [Jincy Willett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jincy-willett/) > [I don't have an ideal reader. I'm trying to reach something simple and, I believe, universal, in every single person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayad-akhtar/i-don-t-have-an-ideal-reader-i-m-trying-to-reach-something-simple-and/) [Ayad Akhtar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayad-akhtar/) > [My ideal reader is somebody who reads my poems out loud.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/my-ideal-reader-is-somebody-who-reads-my-poems-out-loud/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [My ideal reader is somebody who trips over a copy of my book on the sidewalk; then they pick it up and read as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greil-marcus/my-ideal-reader-is-somebody-who-trips-over-a-copy-of-my-book-on-the/) [Greil Marcus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greil-marcus/) > [“Are you imperfect, romantically irrational, ridiculously fearless, and utterly illogical? You're my ideal reader, friend, partner. I'm your fan.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brook-tesla/are-you-imperfect-romantically-irrational-ridiculously-fearless-and/) Brook Tesla > [I'm my own "ideal reader" in the sense that I write novels that I would want to read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/i-m-my-own-ideal-reader-in-the-sense-that-i-write-novels-that-i-would/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [My main disappointment was always that a book had to end. And then what? But I don't think I was ever disappointed by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/my-main-disappointment-was-always-that-a-book-had-to-end-and-then/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [The ideal reader's the same, and I suppose this person has never had a face or a gender or an age. It's just some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/the-ideal-reader-s-the-same-and-i-suppose-this-person-has-never-had-a/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [Who is the ideal reader? God only knows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/who-is-the-ideal-reader-god-only-knows/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Anthony Burgess > [If you expect the worst from a person you can never be disappointed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/if-you-expect-the-worst-from-a-person-you-can-never-be-disappointed/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [Life is a wretched gray Saturday, but it has to be lived through.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/life-is-a-wretched-gray-saturday-but-it-has-to-be-lived-through/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [A novelist should not be too intelligent either, although... he may be permitted to be an intellectual.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/a-novelist-should-not-be-too-intelligent-either-although-he-may-be/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [“A man who serves language, however imperfectly, should always serve truth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/a-man-who-serves-language-however-imperfectly-should-always-serve/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [All human life is here, but the Holy Ghost seems to be somewhere else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/all-human-life-is-here-but-the-holy-ghost-seems-to-be-somewhere-else/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [Rome's just a city like anywhere else. A vastly overrated city, I'd say. It trades on belief just as Stratford trades on Shakespeare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/rome-s-just-a-city-like-anywhere-else-a-vastly-overrated-city-i-d-say/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [The important thing is moral choice. Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/the-important-thing-is-moral-choice-evil-has-to-exist-along-with-good/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [Civilised my syphilised yarbles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/civilised-my-syphilised-yarbles/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [The downtrodden are the great creators of slang.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/the-downtrodden-are-the-great-creators-of-slang/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [Without class differences, England would cease to be the living theatre it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/without-class-differences-england-would-cease-to-be-the-living/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [... A CLOCKWORK ORANGE- and I said: 'That's a fair gloopy title. Who ever heard of a clockwork orange?' Then I read a malenky…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/a-clockwork-orange-and-i-said-that-s-a-fair-gloopy-title-who-ever/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [A work of fiction should be, for its author, a journey into the unknown, and the prose should convey the difficulties of the journey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/a-work-of-fiction-should-be-for-its-author-a-journey-into-the-unknown/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [“They don't go into what is the cause of goodness, so why of the other shop? If lewdies are good that's because they like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/they-don-t-go-into-what-is-the-cause-of-goodness-so-why-of-the-other/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [“By definition, a human being is endowed with free will. He can use this to choose between good and evil. If he can only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/by-definition-a-human-being-is-endowed-with-free-will-he-can-use-this/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [Every grain of experience is food for the greedy growing soul of the artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/every-grain-of-experience-is-food-for-the-greedy-growing-soul-of-the/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) [Explore all 261 Anthony Burgess quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) ## More Biased quotes > [Critics are biased, and so are readers. (Indeed, a critic is a bundle of biases held loosely together by a sense of taste.) But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-balliett/critics-are-biased-and-so-are-readers-indeed-a-critic-is-a-bundle-of/) Whitney Balliett > [I'm a liberal, but I'm not biased. Seriously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-cronkite/i-m-a-liberal-but-i-m-not-biased-seriously/) [Walter Cronkite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-cronkite/) > [Biochemists and biologists who adhere blindly to the Darwinism theory search for results that will be in agreement with their theories and consequently orient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-paul-grasse/biochemists-and-biologists-who-adhere-blindly-to-the-darwinism-theory/) [Pierre-Paul Grasse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-paul-grasse/) > [The state of female artists is very good. But the very definition of art has been biased in that 'art' was what men did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/the-state-of-female-artists-is-very-good-but-the-very-definition-of/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [Digital media are biased toward replication and storage. Our digital photos practically upload and post themselves on Facebook, and our most deleted e-mails tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-rushkoff/digital-media-are-biased-toward-replication-and-storage-our-digital/) [Douglas Rushkoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-rushkoff/) > [“I pick up a copy of Newsweek on the plane and immediately notice how biased, slanted, and opinionated all the U.S. newsmagazine articles are.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-byrne/i-pick-up-a-copy-of-newsweek-on-the-plane-and-immediately-notice-how/) [David Byrne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-byrne/) > [The schedules are crammed with shows urging us to travel further, drive faster, build bigger, buy more, yet none of them are deemed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-monbiot/the-schedules-are-crammed-with-shows-urging-us-to-travel-further/) [George Monbiot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-monbiot/) > [Yes, the mainstream media is painfully biased.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jedediah-bila/yes-the-mainstream-media-is-painfully-biased/) [Jedediah Bila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jedediah-bila/) > [I think I'm the best at everything that I do. I may be biased because it's me. But if you ask me that, that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cam-ron/i-think-i-m-the-best-at-everything-that-i-do-i-may-be-biased-because/) [Cam'ron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cam-ron/) > [I pledge allegiance to the fair and balanced truth. Not the biased truth, Not the liest truth, But the highest truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-pledge-allegiance-to-the-fair-and-balanced-truth-not-the-biased/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [It is quite exhilarating to speak about a God who has an incredible bias, a notorious bias in favor of the downtrodden. You look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-tutu/it-is-quite-exhilarating-to-speak-about-a-god-who-has-an-incredible/) [Desmond Tutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-tutu/) > [Well, being a black man in America and growing up in this society, my view of the justice system is pretty much set. I've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-morgan/well-being-a-black-man-in-america-and-growing-up-in-this-society-my/) [Rob Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-morgan/) > [There's no question that I am biased toward the Hebrew calendar over the Gregorian one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bari-weiss/there-s-no-question-that-i-am-biased-toward-the-hebrew-calendar-over/) [Bari Weiss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bari-weiss/) > [The present educational establishment, to cite just one group, has been obscuring the past so that our children have no way of comparing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-demar/the-present-educational-establishment-to-cite-just-one-group-has-been/) [Gary DeMar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-demar/) > [I can't promise my child a life without bias - we're all biased - but I promise to bias my child with multiple perspectives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-k-raghava/i-can-t-promise-my-child-a-life-without-bias-we-re-all-biased-but-i/) K.K. Raghava Browse all 277 Biased quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and failed musician, short-sighted, colour-blind, auditorily biased, who has read the books that I have read.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anthony Burgess" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapsed-catholic-and-failed/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Biased" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapsed-catholic-and-failed/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/anthony-burgess-1167_biased_the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapse_102783.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/anthony-burgess-1167_biased_the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapse_102783.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/anthony-burgess-1167_biased_the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapse_102783.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and failed musician, short-sighted, colour-blind…” — Anthony Burgess", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anthony Burgess", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The ideal reader of my novels...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapsed-catholic-and-failed/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapsed-catholic-and-failed/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```