Customer Reviews

Readings

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In Sven Birkerts' latest series of essays, "Readings" he insists that we are forgetting how to read because of the deluge of information that we have to process in our modern everyday world. And he doesn't mean this figuratively. He believes that we are actually changing and adapting to new media at the expense of the immersive reading experience. And that the rate of change is increasing.

He notes that St. Agustine, in the third century was amazed at those who could read without moving their lips, suggesting that the internal processing of text was not an inherent human ability, but something that evolved within the last dozen centuries or so.

Birkerts, who doesn't use a comuter to write, thinks that we are now taking another step, evolving out of the age of literature into something new and, as of yet, not fully understood (but assumed to be bad). He makes a good argument, but it seems to me that there are lots of hungry and discerning readers still out there, and many of them don't move their lips when they read.

I agree with Birkerts that something is happening, but I'm not as pessimistic, I guess. (And maybe it's not the reading experience, but writing that electronica is negativly impacting, as this computer keyboard generated review would attest)

But read this book. It contains much more that it's central theme would suggest, on topics ranging from Seamus Heaney to Don Dillio. It is a very engaging, valuable and thought provoking book.

I have to admit that "Gutenberg Elegies," Birkerts's previous book, was a real pleasure to read, even if I did not share his clearly pessimistic view of technology. "Elegies" is a fascinating book, extremely well crafted, thoroughly planned from start to finish, and (disturbingly?) thought-provoking. Motivated by this experience and several equally high-flying editorial pieces (in the Atlantic) I rushed to get "Readings." What a disappointment. Has it REALLY been written by the same person? "Readings" is a collection of essays which seem quite haphazardly thrown together for no apparent reason other than simply being available. I was surprised by the authoritarian, no-discussion-welcome tone of most pieces, rather than the well-substantiated-argument tone of essays I was expecting (and to which the author got me accustomed before). You will learn, to give one example, which is the most beautiful poem ever written (it is beautiful, if quite trivial), and then, this presumed beauty will be slowly murdered in a lengthy, over-the-top analysis which could well be titled "What NOT to do to a poem you claim to like." And, although in one of the essays Birkerts announces he is not very interested in being actively involved in politics, many essays seem very conservative in tone. Not that conservative is a bad thing. It is just not my kind of thing. I will admit I did not read ALL the essays (nor do I intend to) - I think I have read just enough to know I do not want to read more. I may have missed some well-hidden gems. Oh, well - now I will never know.

This book was inflicted on me by my college prof--ok, so I'll admit some of it was worth reading; Sven's got a bit of a point about technology taking over our lives and he writes quite eloquently about the joys of reading. Also, the last few essays about specific writers were somewhat enjoyable. But on the whole, it's stuff I've heard before in a more accessible and enjoyable fashion. Sometimes it led to some mildly interesting conversations, but basically, I feel it was a waste of my time. Sven needs to get a grip--technology isn't going away. Also, I had to chuckle when I read him boast about the fact that he is "in no sense online." Well, that might have been true when the essay was first published but his journal sure is online now! At any rate, if freaking out about technology taking over our lives and our society going to hell in a handbasket is your thing, you might like this book. I didn't.

Buy this book to read literary criticism at its worst, or rather read a literary critic indulging himself.