Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | The tyranny of reading
For someone to say they don't care for reading labels them as some kind of thickie pariah, fair game for any insult. To decide any such thing on the basis of one single trait seems both sweeping and snobbish.
during my footloose-like childhood, two things distinguished me from my sister:
1- my birthmark was on the right side, hers on the left
2- i read books, she didn't
as we grew up, this second division between us became more marked. i horded my books and she launched guerilla attacks at me through them. (oh, the day i found my hardy boys mystery ripped, defaced and chewed by my dogs because my sister threw it in the back yard - oh, that was a dark day.) my sister knew how deeply this hurt me just as i knew how it hurt that i preferred reading to playing with her.
all of this is to say that my sister doesn't read very much. she read in college, yes; now her collection of books can fit in a small file cabinet. but she has read a book. somewhere, a book has felt my sister crack its spine. somewhere an idea has been digested by my sister and now sits percolating in the ether of ideas my sister carries above her.
but NEVER to have read a single book? and boldly to admit it? (and you don't have a condition to account for it?) you're no pariah. just hugely ignorant.
4 comments:
Never to have read a book makes someone ignorant?
No, it might make them someone who has learned things by doing instead of sitting and learning what someone else has done. That's admirable and courageous. Reading, in many cases, is for those who won't or can't do, for fear of pain, fear that they will meet with defeat or look stupid for doing something in a way that they could have "read" about.
I salute your sister and I am sorry that she ever read a book...she'd be better off without it.
no, not ever having read a book makes someone culturally and socially illiterate.
reading pushes intellectual ability, introduces new ideas, expands horizons. reading (or literacy, cultural and otherwise) has historically played a large role in the liberation of women, slaves and poor people. writing, the converse side of reading, has done the same thing.
so, i totally disagree with you. it's that kind of firm, anti-intellectualism that makes a mockery of western civilization.
Hello Ding and Dickenine,
We are two English teachers working at an American school in Brazil who just read your exchange about reading.
We will be presenting to other international teachers about reading instruction and would like to use your blog exchange as a piece for discussion. We would like to ask your permission to reproduce this. We will cite you as a source using MLA format.
Please respond in this forum if you have any problems with us using and appropriately citing your dialogue in our presentation.
Thanks in advance,
Katy and Brad
katy and brad,
sure! go ahead and use it!
tell me how it goes.
cheers,
ding
Post a Comment