"The writer is always tricking the reader into listening to their dream"

Joan Didion's assertion that "The writer is always tricking the reader into listening to their dream" conveys a nuanced understanding of the relationship in between author and reader. It recommends that writing is a naturally seductive act, where the author, through workmanship and imagination, leads the reader into a built reality or dreamscape.

To "deceive" the reader does not indicate deceptiveness in an unfavorable sense but rather a skilled persuasion. The author crafts a narrative so engaging and evocative that the reader willingly suspends disbelief, choosing to get in and be enveloped by the world the author has developed. This engagement belongs to stepping into a dream-- a realm where reasoning may bend, feelings heighten, and reality is redefined according to the author's vision. Didion implies that this is a fundamental objective of writing: to create a story so immersive that it captures the reader's attention entirely.

The word "dream" is particularly telling in Didion's quote. Dreams are naturally individual, deeply connected to the subconscious and filled with meaning. By comparing writing to a dream, Didion highlights the intimate, subjective nature of storytelling. Each writer has a distinct "dream"-- an individual vision of truth-- that they intend to communicate. The reader, by engaging with the text, becomes an individual in this dream, experiencing the author's vision through the lens of their own analysis.

Moreover, this quote highlights the power characteristics in the reader-writer relationship. It is the writer's obligation to guide, attract, and preserve the reader's engagement throughout the narrative journey. The effective execution of this "technique" leads to a shared experience between author and reader, where the written word transforms into a lively, living dreamscape.

Didion's insight elegantly records the fragile interplay of persuasion and imagination that specifies the art of writing, and it illuminates the transformative potential of literature to transfer readers beyond the confines of their truth.