Re: Reading and not reading without guilt

Judy (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Mon, 18 Dec 1995 12:27:16 -0500

12/16/95 -0800, you wrote:
>
> I do my share of reading and not reading and more than my share
>of wishful book buying. I also share all the variants of guilt
>associated with this, plus some secret variants not ready to be brought
>to light. However, I would like to try to turn the issue on its head.
>It seems that all these guilts are based on certain assumptions we
>have about virtuous reading and idealized literacy. Why do some reading
>and reading-related behaviours seem more tainted while others seem more
>noble?

Chuck, I certainly appreciate the question, and I admit to suffering on
and off some ambivalence about my professional life - less so now that
I am living it than when I was preparing to do so. For me, it is not that
some reading behaviors (e.g., reading poetically, associatively,
sporadically on any particular topic) seem more "tainted" than others, but
precisely that they are less useful for my work than reading
systematically in service of a project.

The ideology at stake encompasses more than the reading.

Judy

What are these assumptions and where do they come from? From
>Reformation Bible-Reading ideology or the Talmudic virtue of study? From
>nineteenth century constructions of Renaissance learning or the moral
>values of literature? From ambivalence about our professional lives?
>>From generational attitudes about newer forms of communication? From some
>beliefs about the value of the amateur? From the deeply internalized
>experience that occurs in reading that makes us want to associate it with
>individualistic notions of autonomy?
> The ideology of reading--there is something here.
>
>Chuck
>
>
>
>
Judy Diamondstone
diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
Rutgers University