literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org

Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Yes, do bother, please!

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08-06-2005

I purchased a copy of "Far from the Madding Crowd" last year, and found
it charming. The one scene where he drifts out to sea and almost drowns
is so captivating.

Each author and novel is representative of a certain age and culture, and
appeals to a certain stage in ones life. When I was in 4th or 5th grade, I
simply adored reading Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and I think Wind in
the Willows (not certain about the title). I don’t know if I will ever go back
and read them now, being close to age 60. I still remember the parts of
those books that were enjoyable to me.

As a Junior in high school, I was required to read "Pride and Prejudice". I
simply HATED it, and I hated my English teacher that year. Last year, I
found an old copy of the book, that my step son was required to read in
his Junior year, and I made myself read it. To my surprise, I found it quite
enjoyable.

As I grew older, and had different experiences in life and education, my
tastes and interests changed.

I went to St. John's in Annapolis for 4 years, and read the so-called
hundred great books of the western world. One fellow in my Freshman
class was starting in his early 30's, an army veteran. He said that while he
was stationed in Korea (no combat, this was in the 60's) he happened to
read Mortimer Adler's book entitled "How to read a book". Mortimer Adler
was one of the many people responsible for shaping the Great Books
program at the University of Chicago, and at St. John's. The army veteran
told me he came to St. Johns because he wanted to read those hundred
great books, but knew he would never have the discipline to do it in his
spare time, but only as a full time student, where they are "required
reading." We had to read things like Ptolemy's Almagest on (ancient)
astronomy. I really had to hit my head against a wall, to force my way
through such books, but doing so transformed me, changed me, changed
my tastes and interests and desires.

I suppose one thing I am trying to say, for young students, is that you
should not be thinking about doing things you like (because they are
enjoyable), but rather, you should be looking for challenges, and things
that you don’t like, but which may really change you, make you stronger,
help you to grow, and be different.

I never became rich or successful in life or business, but I am glad that I
studied and wrote as I did. Perhaps I am what many would consider a
financial failure, or a career failure, precisely because all my life I was so
preoccupied with ideas which are not marketable or utilitarian.

Stop and think. Suppose you absolutely love some particular author or
genre of novel. Maybe you love mysteries, or horror/scifi. Well, if all you
do is read Harry Potter books, because you enjoy it, or all of Danielle
Steel, or everything that Stephen King ever wrote, why, you will have lots
of pleasure, but, in a way, its all the same thing over and over. But, if
you forced yourself to read through Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire, let us say, or Plutarch's lives, and read some
commentaries on them, or had some seminars... why, you would have a
totally different experience that might really change you in some
significant way.

I think, personally, that everyone should make a big effort to try and read
some of Plato's dialogues, or at least, The Republic. There is nothing else
in the world like it. But.... you can’t just buy the book and read it through
mechanically, so that you can say "ok I read it now, so what." You have to
find a way to read it with understanding. You have to learn "HOW" other
people, scholars, read such a book, and why it has been so popular for
2000 years.

I have not been a Christian for many years now, so I do not have some
hidden agenda for saying this, but I think it is really worthwhile to take
some non-religious bible study course, and try to get through the Old
Testament, New Testament, and Apocrypha. The reason I say this is that
so much of literature and history has been influence by it. I mean,
Kierkegaard takes his "Sickness unto death" and "fear and trembling"
from certain verses. And Hemingway name a novel "The Sun Also Rises"
from a verse in Ecclesiastes. And you really can’t appreciate what
Steinbeck is doing in "East of Eden" without a good understanding of the
Bible.

But then, you won't really appreciate Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses"
unless you come to understand life in India, and Islamic beliefs and Hindu
beliefs, as well as to understand what it is like to grow up in a society
where such religions have coexisted for centuries.

Everything is sort of interconnected. If you watch the DVD "Gandhi" you
will hear a haunting melody played at the very end, with the credits. Most
Americans and Europeans will not understand that the melody was
Gandhi's favorite hymn (bhajan) "Ragupati ragava raja Ram, patite
bhavane," which speaks of Ram as the up lifter of the downfallen or
downtrodden.

In my writings and posts, over the past six or seven years, I have tried to
explain how the study of these various things, religions, philosophies, has
created the view and understanding which I now have.

You know, when I was age 19, and in St. John's, reading those hundred
western books, by people like Aquinas, Augustine, Descartes, Hegel, Kant,
Goethe, why... I thought anything that was Indian or Chinese was just a
bunch of nonsense. One day, in the coffee shop, on the bulletin board,
was a notice that one student was selling books like the Bhagavad-Gita,
and the Tao. An older student, who knew how I thought, and saw me
reading the notice, laughed at me and said, "You probably think such
books are nonsense, a waste of time." I admitted to him that this was
indeed how I felt.

Little did I realize, that, 30 years later, I would become totally fascinated
by such writings, and immerse myself in them, and write extensively
about them, and even have some influence upon people living in distant
places like India and Malaysia and Singapore.

I think I want to try and get a DVD version of Pride and Prejudice and
watch it. I know one of the forum members is writing a paper on it. I tried
to help a student a while back with an assignment on the movie version
of The Great Gatsby. It was some months before I could acquire the DVD,
and I was too late to help with the assignment, since the deadline had
passed. But I did read the book and watch the film.

So many books. So little time. (sigh)

Please, do bother, bother a lot, bother yourself sleepless. Whenever you
have a spare moment, on a train, on a bus, in a waiting room, in the
bathroom... don’t let those precious moments and opportunities slip
through your fingers.

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Location: Manchester, England

I have to say Sitaram your words have touched me deeply, and by
reading what you have written you have really inspired me to think about
reading the books that I otherwise probably wouldn't have even heard of,
let alone consider reading. Thanks a lot.

Lately though I have been, not forcing, but pushing myself more to read
books that I initially wouldn't have thought to be good. I've just finished
reading Jane Austen's "Persuasion" and at first found it difficult to actually
enjoy it but the more I read the more I adapted to the style and thus
really developed a taste for a style in which was totally alien to me. After
a few more books ( I still need a gap to give me the murder, guts and
gore ) I think I shall embark on "Pride and Prejudice" and I'm confident I
will enjoy it.

I definately agree with you when you mentioned, by reading something
forcibly, your tastes and interests do change. Two years ago I decided I
wanted something different to what I usually read (which was Tolkien,
Dahl, Peake) and I read Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles". I can
honestly say that I fell in love with it. Simply by forcing my way through
the first few chapters, I was romantically captivated by the world which
Hardy painted. It wasn't like I had to adapt to his style - it was as if it was
exactly what I'd been wanting to read and I'd found it simply because I
wasn't arrogant to stick with the same authors. Also, Sitaram, your points
on reading such texts as The Old Testament etc really make reading
books such as Tess much more meaningful as there are constant
references to the Bible (and very often Shakespeare).

Im only 16 and I feel lucky that I can enjoy such books, though my mum
says I read too many old books now, and I need to read more modern
books (which is why I've just started a George Orwell). It's strange how
much your taste can change with a little discipline...

Thanks for the inspiration.

- Scruffy Danny

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