Saturday, September 30, 2006
People Read Too Much
A strange article by Nick Hornby today pursues the rather tenuous theme of what people read during the long hot summer. (Long? Hot? Well, July yes, but August emphatically no.) Hornby wanders through a random list of the books he saw people reading in Islington. From this somewhat arbitrary sample, he seems to draw two distinctly inconclusive conclusions. First, people don't necessarily read books that are among the bestsellers. Secondly, neither do they read heavyweight literature in large quantities - he provides the excuse that the summer was very 'hot'. Neither of these conclusions arise in any meaningful way from his observations. But - and this is the real point - he then goes on to defend reading for reading's sake, quoting disapprovingly Harold Bloom's observation that he'd rather his children read nothing at all than read Harry Potter. Hornby concludes with the usual consolingly conventional thought that the book is not dead, lots of them are, in fact, read. Well, I'm with Bloom. Reading almost all books currently being published is even worse for your soul than watching home makeover shows or eating Yakult. People should not read more, they should read better. Or, failing that, they should sit quietly in a darkened room thinking.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Here's the clue that Hornby is tendentious and disingenuous:
ReplyDelete" ... which is why those who choose to concentrate on a novel's literary merits and demerits will always be mystified and occasionally enraged by the apparent perversity of the reading public."
You see what he's saying, don't you? Those who read books Hornby approves of are communing directly with the authors and the books, unaware of Hornby walking among them. They read, in other words. Hornby's "stern custodians of our intellectual health," however, "choose to concentrate."
I'm not sure whether Hornby would consider me a reader or a chooser. On the one hand, I read lots of crime novels. On the other, when the occasion calls for it, as in the case of Bill James, I "choose to concentrate" on their "literary merits."
Hornby plays the tired game of breaking down the distinction between popular and high art. Or rather, the distinction doesn't matter to him. To me, one distinction is still worth making: When in doubt, go with the guy who doesn't write for McSweeney's.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter,
ReplyDeleteYou are a blogger after my own heart. Exactly.
I read all the time, as do my daughters. I even read Nick Hornby ;-), though I think he writes well he strives for effect a bit. I read the whole of "A long way down" unable to decide whether to throw it a long way down (into the bin) or whether to finish it. I am still not sure if I made the right decision (I finished it). However, though I am a very well read person by any definition, I do get cross at people who criticse Harry Potter/JKR just for the sake of it. That author "gets" emotion on a level that self-regarding, "urban sophisticates" (or do I mean urbane sophisticates?) like NH never will in a lifetime of Sundays. JKR may not be the world's greatest stylist, but she's up there with the greek tragedians. I hate the anti-JKR snobbery that goes on, when you see how many readers, and their imagination, are gripped by her.
ReplyDeleteMaxine,
ReplyDeleteHave you read Marilynne Robinson? Gilead and Housekeeping and essays The Death of Adam. If not, I am honoured to have brought her into your life. Two masterpieces of fiction and one collection of extraordinary essays. JKR will drop from your grasp as you rise form your seat ruffling your hair. Hornby will come in handy for kindling.
Maxine, I've never read Harry Potter, but the sniping at Rowling is inevitable, given her success. Nick Hornby strives for effect a bit? His Guardian essay is attitude and self-preening from beginning to end, from the faux-Baudelaire concept to the disingenuous sniping at those of us who "choose to concentrate" on a book's literary merits.
ReplyDeleteHi, folks -- I love Nick Hornby (met him a couple of years ago when he appeared here in Phila. with our local band, Marah, whose reputation he almost single-handedly resuscitated with an essay on them). He's a very nice, self-effacing, intensely ironic man. To me, the thrust of his piece is: Who cares what people are reading, it's just nice to see them reading anything! I agree.
ReplyDeleteI read Bloom's snotty review of the Potter books way back when: I seem to recollect he was most disturbed by JKRowling's overuse of the verb "sloped." The Weasley twins are always sloping away rather than walking or running or skipping. Who cares? His tomes on literature aren't exactly leaping off the shelves for the common reader.
As for JKR, I found the first several books in the series very charming and the last unreadable (too much rehashing in the opener turned me off) and my kids have read them all. It's *really* good to see a writer who has kids lining up at bookstores to buy the latest copy of one of her books.
Bryan, I totally agree with you about _Housekeeping_. Robinson writes like an angel and the only reason she isn't better known is because she's written so little. She does, however, have another novel beyond the two you mention: _Mother Country_. At least, so says the bio note on my copy of _Housekeeping_.
Nick Hornby may be as nice and ironic and loveable as all get out, but his thrust is not "Who cares what people are reading, it's just nice to see them reading anything!" Rather, it's "Who cares what people are reading -- as long as they're reading it my way."
ReplyDeleteHe pretends to be broad and open-minded and sympathetic to all readers, but in fact he sneers at those "who choose to concentrate on a novel's literary merits." What a shocking thing to concentrate on!
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/