On Reading Well
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Reading great literature well has the power to cultivate virtue. Great literature increases knowledge of and desire for the good life by showing readers what virtue looks like and where vice leads. It is not just what one reads but how one reads that cultivates virtue. Reading good literature well requires one to practice numerous virtues, such as patience, diligence, and prudence. And learning to judge wisely a character in a book, in turn, forms the reader's own character.
Acclaimed author Karen Swallow Prior takes readers on a guided tour through works of great literature both ancient and modern, exploring twelve virtues that philosophers and theologians throughout history have identified as most essential for good character and the good life. In reintroducing ancient virtues that are as relevant and essential today as ever, Prior draws on the best classical and Christian thinkers, including Aristotle, Aquinas, and Augustine. Covering authors from Henry Fielding to Cormac McCarthy, Jane Austen to George Saunders, and Flannery O'Connor to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Prior explores some of the most compelling universal themes found in the pages of classic books, helping readers learn to love life, literature, and God through their encounters with great writing. In examining works by these authors and more, Prior shows why virtues such as prudence, temperance, humility, and patience are still necessary for human flourishing and civil society. The book includes end-of-chapter reflection questions geared toward book club discussions, features original artwork throughout, and includes a foreword from Leland Ryken.
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Short thoughts: I really like the focus of reading as a means to developing virtue. And Karen Swallow Prior is a great author. She writes beautifully and is compelling in the way she presents literature. I learned a lot from the book.
My complaints are what is absent and I know that is a bad way to complain. There are lots of reasons to not have something in a book. I have followed her work since her original book. We have many mutual friends. I follow her on social media. We are in a private facebook group together where we are both active. So while we are not personal friends, I do feel like I know a good bit about her. And that good bit tells me that she is actively working against racism within the White Evangelical space. And that she love of British literature (her academic speciality) is not about upholding western culture and white supremacy.
That being said, I think that Evangelical Christians that are trying to uphold Evangelicalism as something that is not White first (she has a chapter in the helpful book Still Evangelical which I reviewed at http://bookwi.se/still-evangelical/ ) need to do more about making sure that we are diversifying our work. In this case that means there should have been more than one non-White author in the list of books and stories discussed. The chapter on Endo's Silence was very good. But it was the only non-White author. Unlike her earlier book, Booked, there were more recent books discussed. I think Cormac MacCarthy's The Road was the most recent book from 2006. But there were also other books that broke out of her academic specialty.
Again, I want to affirm that what is here is very good. And that I do not think that this project is inherently bad because it is mostly white authors. I just think it could have been better if it were more non-White.
My longer thoughts are on my blog at http://bookwi.se/on-reading-well/
