Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Setting and changes in viewpoint
After the panel presentation on Friday, I was left with a lot of realizations about the way in which I consume books. I became aware of the fact that how I read Ragtime in class almost definitely would have been different from how I would've read Ragtime as a random novel on my own time. Whether we like to admit it or not (and I know for a fact that that's something most people don't like to own up to), our likes and dislikes are always somewhat tied to our environment and how other people perceive things. In a classroom setting where I am essentially forced to analyze, reread, and contemplate each chapter (I'd even go as far as to say each passage), it becomes so much easier to appreciate the literary value of a book. That, combined with all the other voiced opinions in class, helps to solidify my budding curiosity into a full fledged interest for the book. On the other hand, wolfing down a novel on your own time provides a completely different experience. When I enjoy a book, I can't help but read through all of it in the shortest time frame possible. In doing so I miss out on a lot of the subtleties that would've otherwise contributed to the book's overall wow factor. When I am not immediately enthralled by a book (and this might have to do with our generation's ever-shrinking attention spans), I abandon it out of disinterest. It seems more and more now that a book either has to provide cheap thrill and action, or a solid recommendation from someone whose taste I trust, for me to really bother finishing it all the way through (let alone appreciate it for its full value...).
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I agree that the environment we are in shapes our views. I probably would not read books like Mumbo Jumbo if I came across them outside of a classroom setting. My opinion on the book, and especially his writing style, would be much more negative had we not discussed it class.
ReplyDeleteYes exactly! I'm glad you feel the same way. I know if I had read Ragtime on my own time in class I almost definitely would've taken a lot of Doctorow's writing purely on a surface level without digging further into it.
DeleteI might describe my own work--or one major aspect of it--as trying to incline you all toward reading in a deeper, more critical and concentrated way, in and out of class. There is no substitute for the discussion experience--I too read these books much more thoughtfully and closely when I'm engaged in an ongoing conversation with all of you, and in a very real sense, when I "teach" a book for the first time, I'm also *learning* a ton about it. But we can be trained toward a general habit of more analytical, critical reading.
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