world literature

Of course, you have to know yourself. Some people can only read for twenty or thirty minutes at a time. It is important to take breaks (some reading material demands it), but at the same time, try to expand the amount of time during which you can stay focused. We have a certain amount of control over it, even if psychologists claim we start to daydream after fifteen minutes or so. In any case, you need to work the daydreaming or musing into your reading: stop and assess what’s in front of you from time to time; pause and ponder.

We read for many different reasons. It helps to clearly define for yourself what your

particular goals of reading are when you sit down with something. We read for school, for work, for personal reasons; those personal reasons, as I intend the category, also include reading magazines, newspapers, or books that help us take part in public discourse as citizens and community members. So, think actively before you start about what you want to get out of the experience: do you need factual information? Do you need to understand a process? Do you need only particular information that can be scanned for? Do you need to understand the writer’s ethos, implicit purposes, or ulterior motives? Are you reading for entertainment? For general edification (to “better” yourself, even if it hurts)? Are you trying to make up your mind about a topic? There are many goals one might have in reading; the key, again, is to consciously assess them before you start. Also, regarding academic reading: it is useful, I think, to take possession of the work – aside from reading for the purposes or requirements the instructor has put upon you, try to invent your own purposes. We get more out of tasks when we pursue them in desire rather than in fear (say, of failing….).

Having defined your purposes, you should then survey the material to be read. “Pre-read” by considering, first, the general characteristics of the text: how long is it? What does the title mean? What sort of prefatory material is there? Is it sectioned? Do the sub-headings (if any) give you a sense of what to expect? What sort of concluding matter do you find – bibliography, index, notes, etc.? Are there images, graphs and charts? Scanning the pages, can you sense what sort of rhetorical modes are prominent – can you see frequent statistical or date reference, use of the personal pronoun, descriptive or narrative language, frequent transition words, summary conclusions, frequent citations of other authorities, etc.? Also, consider when the text was written, and if you are reading a shorter text such as an essay that was originally published

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elsewhere, consider what you know about the target audience of that publication, and of that time (if the text is more than a few years old).

What kind of text are you reading? There are many kinds of prose; it is helpful to know

what genre you are dealing with, which can answer questions about form, purpose, and intended audience. Here is a random, partial list of various genres, sub-genres, and “analogical” categories, according to purpose:

Poetry Fiction Drama

Non-Fiction Epic

Lyric Column Feature Story

Unauthorized Biography Petition

Belles Lettres Memoir Prayer

Lie Curse Defense Sermon

Confession Epistle Exposé Romance Myth Psalm Incantation Meditation Portrait Field notes Response

Travel journal Captivity Narrative Journal

Political Tract Satire

Yarn Ode Ballad Allegory

Dream Vision

Polemic Seduction Novel Picaresque Novel Elegy Admonition Exemplary Tale Chronicle Mystery Fantasia, etc.

What did I leave out? Just as there are thousands (actually, millions) of colors, and a variety of textures, smell, and so forth, there is a multitude of textual forms; if you can name the generic type of a text (even in your own provisional vocabulary), you will know better how to read it and make use of it.

While you read, take notes; and get in the habit of using page numbers in case you need to refer back to something later. Annotate the text, according to your reading purposes, and if the book is your own. Use Post-its, especially if you’re reading a book you don’t want to mark in. Write down your questions about the material – sometimes, seeing your question before you suggests the answer. We need to give our confusion itself some kind of form before we can deal with it. Also ask critical questions regarding the author’s purposes and choices. (We will study rhetorical analysis more closely later, so I won’t get into textual matter as yet). Especially with longer works (more than a few pages), it is useful to mark paragraph blocks or sectional divisions that are not made explicit. Texts are interwoven; consider how one part of a paragraph or one part of the essay refers back to some earlier part, or seems to forecast some later part. Follow the

dynamics of the text, partly by “mapping” it out.

More broadly, try to contextualize what you are reading. Fit the material – its form as well as content – into your goals, and into the larger discourse the text was written for. Think of the text as one part of a larger flow of texts; writers write, often, in response to something else on the same topic; someone else will come along and write in response to them. Sometimes, when we “walk in” on a conversation, we have no idea what the speakers are talking about. But once we get into the flow, we can look forward and back. It is similar with written “conversations,” as well.

The Internet is a useful tool in this regard. Texts frequently allude, or refer, to other texts, or to issues in history, politics, or another particular field of study. The Internet is a good

“allusion box,” or device for locating quick (if not always completely trustworthy) answers to textual mysteries.

Perhaps you find some texts, particularly in specialized fields, full of unfamiliar diction or vocabulary. I have a shelf full of reference books of many types, including specialized dictionaries; but again, the Internet is a good source of glossaries and dictionaries of every kind. On the other hand, it is good to try first to capture the sense of unfamiliar words through context clues. The phrase or the broader passage in which the term occurs might make it fairly clear what the sense is. Look up only those words that seem important, and that don’t reveal their subtleties

so easily. Keep in mind as well that words change over time; if you are reading a text from long ago, don’t count on all words having the same connotations or even denotations.

As a long term goal, it is good for every serious reader to keep a reading notebook; in mine (now several shelves long!), I also keep track of interesting words. If you’re interested in building your vocabulary, definitely keep a written list; also, consider buying a vocabulary- exercise book (there are many available), particularly one that discusses and provides practice with Latin roots. If you are familiar with a few dozen common Latin prefixes, suffixes, and roots, you can more readily contextualize and understand thousands of English words, even in highly technical texts.

Next: if you’re reading a literary text (or really any kind of text), it is helpful to read part of it out loud. “Subvocalizing” used to be the standard practice, in fact. Centuries ago, people always moved their lips when they read. When you hear a text, you think more about tone, inference, pace, rhythm, meaningful pauses, inflections, and so forth. It can be awkward to read out loud around others, but if you’re alone, or with someone who won’t find it annoying (they might even read with you), then give it a try.

Next, try discussing what you read. Tell people about what you’re reading, discuss the text with other readers, and when possible, ask people with authority on the subject questions about the text. Again, this makes the text part of the larger experience of discourse; also, it cements what we’ve read into our memories, because we’ve made the material more tangible by connecting it with place, people, or our own voice. I often learn what I think when I find myself trying to explain something to someone else.

I’ve already talked about some “post-reading” exercises, then. But a few others are worth mentioning: summarize in quick, short form something you want or need to hold in memory. Note down matters you need to look up, but didn’t have time or opportunity to look into while reading. Keep an informal bibliography as well – especially for library books, it is necessary sometimes to consult a book again at a later time. In my earlier notebooks, I was often careless about citing. I would have a good quote in front of me, but have no memory of where I got it from. Also, if you found a text especially troubling or difficult, see what others thought about it – find book reviews either in the Internet or in Book Review Digest (in print or online form). Even “cheat” texts, like the Cliffs Notes used for literary classics, have some value as well – if you don’t substitute the summary and condensed analysis for the text itself. It can be useful to look at a synopsis, either before or after you read a long, difficult work, again as a way of “mapping” the text in your mind.

By the way: this is a writing class, mainly. But a discussion of reading is important, because you can't write well if you don't read frequently. Reading is writing and writing is reading.

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Now, let me finish on a personal note.

I started reading to my son before he was born. That is, while my wife and I sat in bed or on the couch, our as-yet unborn child kicking energetically inside her, I would read out loud, just in

case the head start would do some good. Then, when he was born, I read to him even though I knew he couldn’t understand what I was saying. Until I got really busy a couple of years ago finishing my Ph.D., I believe I had not missed more than a few nights in eight years of reading to my son. It became such an important part of his life, just the threat that I wouldn’t read to him before bed could make him upset. Since before he could walk, we haunted all the used and new- bookstores together. Reading “culture” was a part of him before video-game culture was. The books got gradually more advanced, and then, of course, he could read fluently on his own (suddenly, it seemed, though fairly late – just before he turned six). He reads well on his own, but still depends on the evening time when we read together. He can listen and concentrate for an incredibly long time, and I feel that there’s nothing better I could give to him.

Why I am I preaching? Many, or perhaps most of you, already know the value of reading, but I think it’s worth emphasizing – the distractions and threats seem to be increasing, especially for the new generation (some of you have small children; a few of you probably have grown-up kids). Reading is a complex skill – my little lesson above barely scratches the surface. But it

gives a great power. You can know the world you’re in by reading, as long as you look up from the book every now and then, and (I admit) put the book down after a while and plug back into the commerce of life (that part I have trouble with, myself). But so often, when I look out at my students (mainly when they’re all fresh out of high school), I find almost no one who enjoys books (or will admit to it); and they consequently have little knowledge of the world they’re living in. They might have “street knowledge,” but to be a citizen and professional, you have to go beyond that. Some educators say it’s too late to pick up reading as a pleasurable habit once we’re out of grade school. But I think we can do anything we like, if we recognize the value of it. So, I hope I haven’t been preaching to the converted, or overselling my point.