Outlining the delights of reading, the author tells of what mass education has done to readers, to taste, to books and to culture. The book covers writers from various countries and old and recently-published books, both well-known and obscure. From the author of "What's Bred in the Bone".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thoughtful and engaging,
By Dylan Blacquiere (Charlottetown, PE Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Voice from the Attic: Essays on the Art of Reading (Paperback)
This book is an extrememly thoughtful commentary on the nature of reading and what it means to be a bibliophile, especially in today's age. It can come across as somewhat stuffy and self-important, but Robertson Davies' thoughts and opinions are varied and resonating enough to overcome that. He doesn't capitulate to the lowest common denominator, or present reading as a pursuit only worthwhile if one reads a predetermined list of "great books". his chapter on humour and comedic writing throughout the ages is priceless. It isn't a book for everyone, but it's a welcome relief from the endless parade of critics who typecast the typical reader as "nobody' if they haven't read a set list of prerequisite books.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An impassioned plea for better readers,
By
This review is from: A Voice from the Attic: Essays on the Art of Reading (Paperback)
Although billed as a collection, this series of essays holds its own as an extended monologue. Davies, as erudite a reader and writer as you will ever discover, is not for the faint of head. In his argument here, he attempts to describe why reading--intense, concentrated reading--can be valued as art. The likely argument against this idea is that reading is not an act of creation, which art aspires to. He quickly deflates that argument with a description of reading that could apply just as well to performance art.Although some of the writers he mentions here will likely be unknown to modern readers (they were certainly unusual to me), the points he makes are universal. We are in need of this even more today than when it was written.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A foundation for understanding the evolution of modern literature,
This review is from: A Voice from the Attic: Essays on the Art of Reading (Paperback)
This book is great. Davies has provided a witty piece of literary criticism that informs the reader about avenues of literary bliss they would likely never have heard of anywhere else. I'm not a Canadian, but I didn't feel he dwelt excessively on topics of specific interest to Canadians. What he did do was point me in the direction of literary genres that are treasure troves of novel reading material, in which one can find the basic storylines and devices that still form the "meat and potatoes" of modern fiction, visible in everything from Tommy Boy to Phillip K. Dick. Personally, the most valuable thing I've taken from "Voice" is an interest in reading plays, and, in particular, pantomimes and drawing room plays. By pointing out that our current culture is ignoring volumes of great literature just because it isn't "current", Davies isn't criticizing todays authors or being stuffy in the least. He's merely pointing the way to an immensely valuable reservoir of work that is ours to appreciate or abandon.
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