Published
2010.
“Once upon a time, a
very long, long time ago now, about last Friday, Winnie-the-Pooh lived in a
forest all by himself under the name of Sanders.”
What you get contents-wise:
Once Upon a Time;
What it is;
When it Began;
The Study of English;
Periods and Movements;
Among the English Poets;
Shakespeare and Dramatic Literature;
Aspects of the English Novel;
The Englishness of English Literature?
Last year I read a book entitled: “Why Read?”. There are points of connection
between the two books. Bate’s book is more specific, whereas Edmondson’s is
more generic. Both give us a fine view of what it means to be a
(compulsive/immersive) reader.
Does reading make me “smarter”? I’m not sure I
can devise a method to measure my ability to understand the world as it-is or
as it-should-be due to my deep immersion in Literature. I’m pretty certain
because I started reading in English at a tender age, my ability to understand
and be able to talk about English Literature is greater than my aptitude to
discuss Portuguese Literature. I usually say I’m not really an example to
anyone in this regard, because I neglected reading my own literature in my own mother-tongue
at a very early age. I only read what I was compelled to read. When I got
older, in college, that’s when I started reading (and discovering) Portuguese
Literature. But English literature (or Literature in English if one feels so
inclined because it has a wider scope) will always be my first love
reading-wise. My English synapses were formed when I was very young, so there’s
nothing to be done about it. I am who I am, accept me, reject me, but I'm still
me. Later on I discovered German Literature. And nothing was ever the same…
Once I became more experienced in the ways of English,
German and Portuguese literature, I knew it fell upon me to begin to light the
way for future explorers. That’s why I got into GR, BL, LM, etc. I’ve written some “literary” works of my
own, using words to illuminate my views on the truth about humanity, science,
geekery, etc. Others may decide instead
to act as teachers, helping prospective explorers learn to traverse the dense
and sometimes bewildering forest of literature they will encounter along their
journey. As the great authors of the
past have marked out paths in the wilderness for we who have followed them, so
we must serve as guides for those who will come after us. Great books (aka literature)
provides us with a window into various aspects of the human condition and a guide
to the way we relate to one another and to our cognitive approach to the
world. Books give us a mirror in which
to examine our collective reflection as people.
It does not distort the errors of humanity, but exposes them quite
openly. Only the truth is relevant. The world of books is the reflecting pool
into which I can look and see both my own face and the faces of all my fellow
humans. It enables me to not only find
the humanity within my own heart, but also to connect me to the generations of
other people who came before me. I like to read because I believe there is
power in literature. The world of books is both intensely personal as well as a
communal experience. Hence BL, LM, whatever. I love examining how words,
sentences, characters, plot-lines and tropes reveal who we are as humans
(close-reading). The human condition as Harold Bloom uses to say is a
complicated thing, and requires an infinite amount of words, concepts, and
imagery to describe and analyse. That's the joy of reading books, there is always
a new reality to discover. Once I realized that I really loved to look at
rhetorical devices, and the use of language, I started to see that, although it
still was not science, it was art, and art is the greatest expression of that
which makes us human. As I was writing this, I got to thinking about the
importance of reading and writing and their differences, not only in terms of
mechanical devices, but in terms of what it means to write, and I mean
personally. The written word embodies an entire culture. Why? Because it
“documents” the collective thoughts of everyone who cared to share them with
the world. Hence, I believe that for me to
truly be a part of human society, it’s critical that I take part in the “history”
that is literature, even if only in the reading aspect (I’m not taking into
consideration my own dabbling attempts at writing…). Writing carries a grave importance for those
who are blessed with the ability to write, as literature simply would not exist
in a form accessible to all, and for that reason I believe all who can write
should. I take advantage of the great
opportunity to be part of and contribute to the world and society in which I
live through writing (at BL, LM, etc.).
I see literature in the sense of an existing conjoint struggle to
understand and make the best of the lives that we have all been given. Literature serves as a way to enrich my soul,
and gives me a way to improve the world not only through the beauty of its
existence but through the ideas and tangible possibilities it possesses.
After this bland speech, what remains to be
said about Bate’s book? Read it. The guy has been writing extensively about
Shakespeare, and he knows what he’s talking about. Bate’s focus is wide,
shifting from the birth of the English novel and the brilliance of English
comedy to the deep Englishness of landscape poetry and the cultural diversity
of Britain’s Nobel literature laureates. And then it continues on a more
in-depth analysis, with close readings from Shakespeare to Burnette’s “The
Secret Garden”, and a series of wonderful instances of how literary texts
change as they are transmitted from writer to reader.
“We would not want to
read yesterday’s newspaper again and again. Nor the thriller or romance or
comic caper that web picked up at the last minute on the airport bookstall. The
books that are rad again and again become literature. Sometimes one of them
will be a thriller or romance or comic caper. Or a children’s story. A book may
be described as a ‘classic’ thriller or ‘classic romance´ when it becomes
definitive of its genre. It may be described as a ‘classic‘ pure and simple
when it transcends the limits if its
genre – Charlotte Bröntë’s Jane Eyre is more than just a romance – and when it
continues to be re-read in generations after its own. Samuel Johnson, in his preface to
Shakespeare, said that the only test of literary greatness is “length of duration and continuance of
esteem.” Why do we keep on reading the so-called classics (Shakespeare
comes to mind)? Shakespeare's perennial appeal is his polysemy and
adaptability. Shakespeare never constrains his plays and his characters to one motif - there are always multiple
reasons, multiple ways of interpreting and analysing his works, and as a result
they are capable of meaning different things, often diametrically-opposed, to
different people at the same time. I can read myself in Shakespeare over and
over again, as long as I’m able to read, and as a result Shakespeare has
continued to have reverberation even four hundred years after the texts were
written.
"What do they
know of England who only England know" I’m not sure I agree with Bate on the interpretation of this Kipling’s quote. I’ve always read this as we will know ourselves better if we can view ourselves through the eyes of others. Those who know other languages have, in general, a better understanding of English than those who do not. Of course, the word "English" may be replaced by any other, namely, Portuguese, German, etc. I’d be interested in knowing your take on this.
Classics are non-verifiable and non-replicable,
meaning no one knows how to produce classics. That’s the beauty of art, and
literature in particular.
NB:
GR = Goodreads
BL = Booklikes
LF = Leafmarks
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