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Current Affairs
June 07, 2009
May 20, 2009
April 18, 2009
There Is a “Darned” Thing Wrong with Reading the Wrong Books
There Is a “Darned” Thing Wrong with Reading the Wrong Books
This “freecard” (a free postcard distributed by businesses and companies as advertising) from the days when Tower Records was a going concern is rich in many ways.
The Catholic Church has been notorious, among people who think for themselves, for ruling certain books off limits. And, unrelated to Catholicism, but certainly in bed with it, are all manner of censors (religious and non-religious) on the political right (and, yes, on the “cultural” left) and the general blockheadism (to borrow a word from Carlyle) of the general public that foists its laziness and timidity and cowardice and reactionary politics and leftist ideologies in the form of “judgments” onto all manner of classic pieces of writing as well as contemporary work that should win their serious attention if not approval.
In the freecard above, we see, from left to right, mom (with her traditional concern for family), sister (with her devotion to love stories and “’hit’ movies,” not art house films, mind you, but movies that have pleased the masses), brother (who, as a young male is expected to get a rise out of mystery and adventure), and dad (who must be concerned with economic value, not value in a larger sense, but merely the economic side).
Of course, the person who created this freecard for Tower Records may well be reading Sartre’s Nausea when he or she isn’t creating visual concepts for money, and the old-school visual and phrases such as “mighty satisfying” and “top notch” may well imply a tongue-in-cheek criticism of such philistine values; but the fact is that Tower Records wanted to move books. (“Hey, hipsters, pick up a couple of CDs and then wander back to our poetry shelf where we represent poets 'all the way from' Kerouac to Burroughs to Morrison [yes, with all the great poets to choose from, they offered up Jim Morrison as a poet].”)
Reading, as many believe and as the mom in the freecard suggests, is merely a pastime. The truth, though this fact is known by far too few, is this: the reading of literature that challenges the reader is a primary means for transformation of the self. That the masses don’t know this concept of reading is not news. May they come to know this through education. That far too many students supposedly educated in universities do not understand this is a travesty. May their grades reflect their philistinism. And may these graduates not carry their philistine values into “education” as teachers themselves.
Popular books that are easy to read and far below the “grade level” of university students should be left behind. More challenging fare (as well as more entertaining fare) is available, and the professors are available who want to teach such works. The university student who wants to teach seventh grade English (and a noble goal that is) should not be reading every book that’s popular with seventh graders. Those seventh graders should be transformed by the reading they’ll do. University students who will become teachers must transform themselves first through quality reading in order to turn to others and help them do something beyond learning how to read a TV Guide or the latest “it” book as judged by the masses who haven’t read much and when they have read a few books haven’t read much that’s worth reading.
If the following ad for a “book” makes you want to throw up, you might want to consider working toward obtaining a teaching position. You’re needed.
