READING WELL
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READING WELL
On the topic of writing, Elena Ferrante once said that “to write, you have to want something to survive you.” One could say that about any sort of creation, which are all intricate in their own ways. The topic of reading in comparison, seems to be spoken of in hushed tones outside theory. Every writer is a reader, and all seem to acknowledge the personal nuances that make up a singular reader – no connecting thread between them unlike the anxious malcontents that Joan Didion identifies as keepers of private notebooks so easily. Reading seemingly has a universality that is only spoken of in slanted ways, with writers hesitant to provide instruction. What is behind the urge to read? What transformation, what thing to survive us are we looking for? Here is what five literary giants have to say on the act of reading.
1.
ON HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE VERY PURPOSE OF WRITING: “Fiction, even when it’s fantasy or sci-fi, is about life and life is not most about words. Consider how many things you’ve thought or seen that are impossible for you to say in words, even something simple, like someone’s facial expression. Life, even on a quiet day, happens so densely and quickly around us and most of it is about seeing, feeling and thinking in a not-strictly verbal way. Writing translates all of this into words but paradoxically the most powerful writing uses words in a way that transcends language to become more true to life; it mimics how we live in a world that is constantly changing and moving before our eyes.”
Mary Gaitskill
2.
ON THE AUTHOR’S INTENT: “I talk about the gods, I am an atheist. But I am an artist too, and therefore a liar. Distrust everything I say. I am telling the truth. The only truth I can understand or express is, logically defined, a lie. Psychologically defined, a symbol. Aesthetically defined, a metaphor”
Ursula LeGuin
3.
ON ENJOYING THE WORK OF OTHERS: “We find comfort only in another beauty, in others’ music, in the poetry of others. Salvation lies with others, though solitude may taste like opium. Other people aren’t hell if you glimpse them at dawn, when their brows are clean, rinsed by dreams.
Adam Zagajewski
4.
ON BEING ADVENTUROUS READERS, AMONG OTHER THINGS: “Nothing is more important for us than that we recognize that we are bound and sworn to that which horrifies us most, that which provokes our most intense disgust.”
George Bataille
5.
ON ENGAGING WITH THE COMMUNAL ASPECTS OF READING: “You read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important. Art would not be important if life were not important.”
James Baldwin
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