diff --git a/xmlreader.c b/xmlreader.c
index f1ea238..8c5bba1 100644
--- a/xmlreader.c
+++ b/xmlreader.c
@@ -1181,9 +1181,10 @@
     xmlTextReaderState oldstate = XML_TEXTREADER_START;
     xmlNodePtr oldnode = NULL;
 
-    
+   
     if (reader == NULL)
 	return(-1);
+    reader->curnode = NULL;
     if (reader->doc != NULL)
         return(xmlTextReaderReadTree(reader));
     if (reader->ctxt == NULL)
@@ -1195,7 +1196,6 @@
     fprintf(stderr, "\nREAD ");
     DUMP_READER
 #endif
-    reader->curnode = NULL;
     if (reader->mode == XML_TEXTREADER_MODE_INITIAL) {
 	reader->mode = XML_TEXTREADER_MODE_INTERACTIVE;
 	/*