There was one point that I did not particularly agree with, though. Near the beginning, he explains that reading is being alive because you are learning life experiences through other characters. Although I think this can certainly happen, I do not think it is as effective as actually going through those experiences. Also, I do not think that reading, mainly solitary reading, is beneficial because it takes you from the real world and creates for you a fantasy world, hence Manguel explaining how as a child, he "believed in sorcery" and "prepared [himself] for encounters with ghosts, with death, with talking animals, with battle" (pg. 10). I do think, however, reading instills a greater sense of imagination that can be maintained long after childhood. But the issue of reading by oneself only is a concerning one because it implies absolutely no social interaction and that is essential to learning and living.
The idea of questioning how we came to be able to read is one that I could not really grasp. In fact, as I was reading about it, I started to be unable to decipher some words because I had no answer to any of Manguel's complex questions.Yet, I was able to learn a great amount about speaking, writing, and then reading that has evolved over the years.
The best idea I found in this entire reading assignment was based off of a quote by Phaedrus. It goes "The painter's work stands before us as though the paintings were alive, but if you question them, they maintain a most majestic silence. It is the same with written words; they seem to talk to you as though they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say, from a wish to know more, they go on telling you the same thing over and over again." I think this quote simply ties up the ideas Manguel makes about reading. It concludes that memorizing words are not enough, it is relating to them through all of the senses. It is through a silent connection and conversation with the words that makes them real. The reader is the painter, allowing the words to be shaped whichever way they desire.
Moderation is key in everything, and time spent apart from the goings on of the world is no exception. However, without stories, people would be a great deficit concerning the scope of their own imaginations. Most of the stories people seek to read as an escape describe experiences and points of view that are simply unobtainable in the world in which we now live. These stories, whether historical or complete fiction, help us to grasp more of our potential in terms of learning and experiencing than would otherwise be possible.
ReplyDeleteI am divided on my stance on whether or not people can learn life experiences through the characters they read about in books. Initially, I thought, Manguel is correct. People can learn how to handle certain problems, situations, or circumstances through the storylines of characters written in books. This is due to the notion that hindsight is 20/20. If one were to read about someone else who experienced a similar situation the reader was experiencing, currently, the reader would be able to assess the actions of the character and decide whether or not they would want to make a decision similar to the one the character had made in the book based on the occurrence of events that follow.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, you made a valid point: people learn better when they experience life for themselves. The reason for this is because they will go through the emotions, thoughts, and hardships first hand, which, in turn, will grant them with life experience.
-Terri