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36th out of 148 books
—
49 voters
Why Read?
In this important book, acclaimed author Mark Edmundson reconceives the value and promise of reading. He enjoins educators to stop offering up literature as facile entertainment and instead teach students to read in a way that can change their lives for the better. At once controversial and inspiring, this is a groundbreaking book written with the elegance and power to cha...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
September 5th 2005
by Bloomsbury USA
(first published 2004)
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“Reading woke me up,” writes Mark Edmundson, humanities professor at the University of Virginia. He sees “creative reading” as a quest for truth that can redeem a life and set us on a voyage of self-discovery. Reading is as a way to acquire knowledge to live a better life. “The test of a book lies in its power to map or transform a life.” Books can lead us to be open enough to possibly adopt a better worldview than the one we currently hold. Books should be called canonical when, over time, t...more
I picked up this book because of personal identity crises. As a writer I wondered, why bother? What difference does reading make anyway? True to form, however ironic, I picked up a book to answer my question.
Unfortunately, disillusioned writers did not fall into Edmundson’s intended audience. He addressed the book to teachers and, to a lesser extent, students of the liberal arts at higher education levels. Consequently, this book’s style proved difficult to embrace in its early chapters. Senten...more
Unfortunately, disillusioned writers did not fall into Edmundson’s intended audience. He addressed the book to teachers and, to a lesser extent, students of the liberal arts at higher education levels. Consequently, this book’s style proved difficult to embrace in its early chapters. Senten...more
I picked this book up years too late. It's a full-throated defense of the humanities, but it applies more to teachers of literature. Edmundson argues that the true test of a work of literature is "Can I live by this?" and his discussion revolves around and around this question. Satisfyingly, I might add. He decries the use of the tools of literary criticism, be it Formalism, Multiculturalism, Historicism, or whatever, when the tools become the focus rather than the text itself. He uses extensive...more
Hmm. I hardly know what to think of this book. I cheered at some parts, groaned at others.
The author, a humanities professor, wants us to reassess how (and why) we teach great literature. I was delighted at his well-aimed blows at over-analysis and literary criticism as ends in themselves, of the efforts of so many (including so many of my teachers) to distance the student from the work, telling us that its only value is to be picked apart as an intellectual exercise. This is fun for bright peo...more
The author, a humanities professor, wants us to reassess how (and why) we teach great literature. I was delighted at his well-aimed blows at over-analysis and literary criticism as ends in themselves, of the efforts of so many (including so many of my teachers) to distance the student from the work, telling us that its only value is to be picked apart as an intellectual exercise. This is fun for bright peo...more
This is a book that takes risks and generates thought and discussion, and I admire it for those reasons. I don't always agree with Edmundson's conclusions, particularly his advocacy of literature as a religion of sorts. I do believe, as he does, in the value of connecting with literary texts on personal and emotional levels and allowing them to shape our living. And I enjoyed his pinpointing of the excesses, absurdities, and dead-ends of many recent approaches to literary study. He makes a compe...more
Why do we go to school? Is it for the credentials? Is it to learn some technical skills? Is it to learn how to live better? Is it for some other reason? Or is it for some combination of reasons? In a wonderful and emotionally charged essay in the Oxford American titled, “Who Are You And What Are You Doing Here“, Mark Edmundson challenges readers to think about what an education really ought to provide us. Education is not immune to economic analysis, but, before running a cost-benefit analysis,...more
Jul 16, 2010
Kate
added it
I had such high hopes for this book but found myself sorely disappointed. Edmundson has basically one point and, after expressing it clearly, spends the rest of the book being pretentious. His ramblings were intelligent and balanced, but ultimately pretentious and not as illuminating as his vocabulary would have you hope. That is just my opinion, but I admit that I am unlikely his intended audience (as he is also pretentious about his profession).
I would recommend this book to any college professor in the Humanities as a vital source of self-affirmation and a way to refocus your approach in the classroom, especially for those lower division studies courses that can be trying. Edmundson finds that professors have become too theoretically dependent in their classroom approaches, teaching theoretical application and dismissing the initial meaning and purpose of literature that draws us to it for hope. Weaving together thoughts from various...more
Written by an English professor, this book covers different schools of thought on analyzing and teaching literature and in a very general context discusses the values and pitfalls of a liberal arts education. I liked the emphasis on seeking what is meaningful to the individual reader rather than the overarching intent of the writer.
This was an excellent read which posed many thought provoking questions.
I did have several issues with the books assertions that truth was relative:
"the truth-the circle, the vision of experience" (p. 52)
"Robert Frost touches on the point when he observes that a truth ceases to be entirely true when it's uttered even for the second time." (p. 30)
"defending truth as you perceived it, against all the surrounding lies" (p. 84)
"that there is no one human truth about the good life, but that there are...more
I did have several issues with the books assertions that truth was relative:
"the truth-the circle, the vision of experience" (p. 52)
"Robert Frost touches on the point when he observes that a truth ceases to be entirely true when it's uttered even for the second time." (p. 30)
"defending truth as you perceived it, against all the surrounding lies" (p. 84)
"that there is no one human truth about the good life, but that there are...more
An excellent discussion of a humanities education and what it should consist of. He discusses Emerson, Freud, and other authors. He sees reading as a way to help one decide on their core beliefs. This is a good read about any of the arts, but of course the emphasis is on literature.
This is a must read for anyone who teaches high school or college students, especially in introductory and general education courses. I'm not sure it's going to totally transform my teaching, but it did give me some ideas about how to engage students.
This book contained some provocative (and at the same time common sense) ideas about what the purpose of reading should be/how literature should be taught on the college level. I'd particularly recommend this book for teachers at all levels.
"The test of a book lies in its power to map or transform a life. The question we would ultimately ask of any work of art is this: Can you live it?" I recently moved from the East Coast to New Mexico. When I took a look on my shelves today at the books I alre...more
"The test of a book lies in its power to map or transform a life. The question we would ultimately ask of any work of art is this: Can you live it?" I recently moved from the East Coast to New Mexico. When I took a look on my shelves today at the books I alre...more
It made me want to vomit. Author is pretentious and incredibly out-of-touch. He assumes a unified notion of "literature" and devalues any works outside the medium of print that might offer the same "transformation" he argues that the reading of literature can supply.
About halfway through, I don't think I've ever been more excited about a work of criticism.
Alas: he is a little too even-handed after successfully demolishing, in the space of two or three startling pages, Foucault and the role of theory in the teaching of literature. But I'm more than willing to take his points and be the strident jackass with them.
Alas: he is a little too even-handed after successfully demolishing, in the space of two or three startling pages, Foucault and the role of theory in the teaching of literature. But I'm more than willing to take his points and be the strident jackass with them.
This is an extraordinarily important book which gives one a template for life-long enrichment. It is short, easy to read, and has much wisdom. Any "student" or teacher should study it.
Meh. I'm trying to think of something useful to say about this book, but "meh" pretty much covers it. This particular wheel has been reinvented more times than Madonna.
Incredible insights into the experience of reading, including the reader's responsibility to fully participate.
Apr 12, 2009
Ed Lehner
added it
This is an entertaining read. It is a light version of "why study the great books." It will not be read in 5 years.
This book has been a very timely read for me as I am about to start teaching English on Monday July 7th 2008. Edmundson is suggesting that teachers get to the core of each student by getting them to verbalize their Final Narrative. In doing so the student will be more able to discover life lessons in great literature and transform their Final Narrative. I particularly like the fact that his argument is for democratic humanism in the classroom which allows for all interpretations of literature, h...more
Edmundson had a lot of brilliant thoughts and points. However, there were times where he sounded stuck-up and could lose the respect of some readers.
Found on the $2 sale table after Christmas!!!
Literature as Scripture. Teachers as preachers.
Fantastic--reminded me of all the reasons I love to read.
Apr 07, 2009
Jenny
added it
read in 2008
Explores a lot of issues I thought I left behind in graduate school. That's not a bad thing. . .
What faces us is the prospect of a world where meaning withdraws and people are left in the midst of soul-destroying emptiness, hopping and blinking and taking their little poison for the day and their little poison for the night.
This is a book for anyone who wants to think about reading. It is an interesting look at how literature is taught in colleges. More: http://allegraphy.wordpress.com/2012/...
A sane, prophetic voice from the world of literary criticism and academic English literature education--if more teachers were like Mark Edmundson, maybe things wouldn't be so bad. . .
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Apr 16, 2013 12:56am
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