And if you don't read and read deeply and if you don't
possess whether you memorize it or not, you don't powerfully and
deeply possess very strong works of literature and thought indeed,
then you will impoverish your thinking. And if we impoverish our
thinking, if it becomes any more adulterated than it has already in
the last third of the century, then I would fear for what is, after
all, most precious about this country...
...But I would fear for the political future of democracy in this large
and varied country if we really do stop reading deeply and holding on
to what we read, if we stop reading the best that has been written,
because then I think we will not think as clearly or as well and we
will be subject to demagoguery.
- Harold Bloom, circa 2000
3 comments:
Yep. I think we're there. At first I was thrilled that people were at least reading something (even if it wasn't the classics). I'm not sure I agree with that mindset anymore. What you get out of a good book is not what you get out of a trashy one or just reading magazines....
And doesn't it seem likely that if people read newspapers consistently, or some history or other nonfiction, once in awhile, it might be harder for them to believe that the entirety of the debt wasn't in fact a result of our current president?
I agree with Erin.
People should also try reading different styles, genres or just about anything readable out there. Yeah, even newspapers. Reading just mystery novels doesn't make one a bookworm.
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