September 18, 2014

"Reading insecurity. It is the subjective experience of thinking that you’re not getting as much from reading as you used to."

"It is deploring your attention span and missing the flow, the trance, of entering a narrative world without bringing the real one along. It is realizing that if Virginia Woolf was correct to call heaven 'one continuous unexhausted reading,' then goodbye, you have been kicked out of paradise."

But you won't read the whole thing. You've just enjoyed this juicy morsel, and who wants Virginia Woolf's heaven anyway? Maybe my next morsel is better than reading that whole thing, that whole thing that's about reading the whole thing. I might satisfy you with something sharper and clearer, like: If Virginia Woolf really thought heaven was sitting around reading continuously, why didn't she stay in her room reading instead of heading out to drown herself?

Enough! That's all I want to say here. I've got another blog post to write. Up there, above this. It's a better place, I'm sure.

15 comments:

tim maguire said...

There was a glorious time in my youth when I could read for hours and not be bothered. Now I'm lucky if I get 15 minutes. Men in my family have an unpleasant habit of dying at 65, but if I buck that trend and see retirement, that will be the best part--having the time and leisure to focus on something I want to do and stopping when I'm ready to stop.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Woolf?
Typical designer of the modern world. Bouts of insanity, then suicide by drowning.

Shanna said...

And reading insecurity is everywhere

This is stupid. The only people who find reading complicated are those who don't read. Sheesh.

There was an article in the WSJ the other day about 'slow reading', which apparently just means sitting down and reading for half an hour.

Shanna said...

Although the WSJ article was oddly against e-reading, for reasons that were basically never stated.

David said...

I am back to books these days. Lots of books. Right now The Dispensable Nation by Vali Nasr. Recommended.

traditionalguy said...

Reading insecurity happens when readings compounds in your mind an develop into a systematic comprehension of a given subject...only to find that knowledge to be an unknown area in the minds of your everyday companions who could care less about it.

Wince said...

Henry Bemus, "Time enough at last."

Carol said...

haha, didn't even have to look, I remembered it so well...yeah get a life.

reading portnoy's complaint anf age of betrayal currently btw.

FullMoon said...

traditionalguy said...

Reading insecurity happens when readings compounds in your mind an develop into a systematic comprehension of a given subject...only to find that knowledge to be an unknown area in the minds of your everyday companions who could care less about it.

But still, some companions may act as if they know more about it than you.

wildswan said...

"Reading insecurity happens when reading ... develop [s] into a systematic comprehension of a given subject...only to find that knowledge to be an unknown area in the minds of your everyday companions who could care less about it."

And then you turn to Twitchy to find out what they do care about. Or else you look online for people with an equal level of comprehension.

The question might be: does the Western tradition prepare the mind today to understand the world of today? And- what if you do understand but the terms of your understanding are not really understood by people two generations down because they have a different sensibility. For instance, ever since the Fifties one huge problem in the race issue in the US has been the continued assertion by eugenic society members and their deluded followers that Africans have a lower median IQ (by 15 points) for genetic reasons. The Bell Curve controversy in the late Nineties is an example and statements appear in these comments all the time by people who accept the false position. BUT the younger generation doesn't regard it as an issue, it isn't settled science either way for them - it is simply too absurdly obviously racist to even talk about. But racism isn't gone for them. Instead they are ignoring the devastation of the African-American family, the fall of the birthrate below replacement level and the consequences for the African-American workers of suddenly legalizing 5 or 10 million new Hispanic workers in one day by the sweep of the pen. This will all be seen as racism by history whereas now it is "civil rights."

Tradition or in fact any organized learning helps to free you from the slogans of the day in their limitations because you have learned the slogans of some pasts or seen the limitations of accepted knowledge.

A deeper learning also says that learning the Western tradition from founders like Socrates and Euclid and on teaches a belief in the power of reason - a belief clearly absent from the tradition the leaders of the Islamic state are calling on.

tim in vermont said...

" 'one continuous unexhausted reading,'"

Try reading Mrs Dalloway without being exhausted.

tim in vermont said...

I do remember sitting down, as a college student, with a really great novel, ok, a really entertaining novel, I remember The Sot Weed Factor was one, where I read from start to end, overnight, uninterrupted.

I think I read Enderby the same way.

Anonymous said...

As anyone who has dealt with user experience or usability knows, people scan online. You have to build your site with that in mind.

Over time, it erodes your ability to read deeply (DEEPLY I say! to DEEPLY read) if you don't make time to get away from the crack hit of fast news, for example.

It's really easier with dead tree books because there is no refresh rate, but you can get used to switching between the two mental modes and go for some slow cookin'. Reading paper feels very stationary in comparison, if a little cumbersome and dusty.

Bad Lieutenant said...

False? Why would you doubt it? The best reasons are that it seems mean or that you will be ostracized, not that it is untrue. I notice you seduce no evidence to back up your tightly packaged assertions.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Adduce. Stupid Android.