Out for dinner with another writer, I said, "I think I've forgotten how to read."
"Yes!" he replied, pointing his knife. "Everybody has."
"No, really," I said. "I mean I actually can't do it any more."
He nodded: "Nobody can read like they used to. But nobody wants to talk about it."
--Michael Harris, "I have forgotten how to read," Globe and Mail
Going on a twitter and facebook fast...
Seek Giacometti’s “The Palace at 4 a.m.” Go back two hours. See towers and curtain walls of matchsticks, marble, marbles, light, cloud at stasis. Walk in. The beggar queen is dreaming on her throne of words… You have arrived at the web home of Marly Youmans, maker of novels, poems, and stories, as well as the occasional fantasy. D. G. Myers: "A writer who has more resolutely stood her ground against the tide of literary fashion would be difficult to name."
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Wednesday, February 14, 2018
2 comments:
Alas, I must once again remind large numbers of Chinese salesmen and other worldwide peddlers that if they fall into the Gulf of Spam, they will be eaten by roaming Balrogs. The rest of you, lovers of grace, poetry, and horses (nod to Yeats--you do not have to be fond of horses), feel free to leave fascinating missives and curious arguments.
Your link is broken: the correct URL is https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/i-have-forgotten-how-toread/article37921379/ .
ReplyDeleteMany of us have always been easily distracted. Before there was the internet, there was, as Harris mentioned, the outside world--that bird or dog going past the window, wind in the trees, snowfall or rain. Does the availability of quick electronic distraction make a difference? I think so. Are the people staring at cell phones all people who would have been reading The Golden Bowl straight through but for electronics? I doubt it.
Yoicks, thanks!
DeleteIndeed, very few people are reading "The Golden Bowl." But I fancy that Mr. Harris thought he might be reading George Saunders, say!