This is my second year exclusively reading classic literature and I think I might do that forever. It really feels like uncovering 2,000 years worth of civilizational genome.
Two days ago, I was saying to my sister that surely at least some of the kids must finally be tiring of the oneupmanship, over-the-topness and outludicrousing of social -- as must the influencers themselves -- and perhaps be even getting curious about those weird rows of differently-worded papery things lining their grandparents' shelves.
Watching social is thankfully out of my life. I tried it, hated myself each time I got sucked in, so deleted it from my phone and only occasionally look at it on my computer. Working social is apparently a vile, stressful job, with a high burnout rate, and what the hell do you do after influencing for a living?
Time for us all to move on from this depressing chapter of intellectual stagnation.
And then this piece appears. And the heart grows wings.
I might just have to pry open Moby Dick and take that sweet Nantucket sleigh-ride once again. I still have my dad's 1959 Dell paperback, boldly proclaiming "75¢" on its cover -- in pieces, but "Complete and Unabridged, Introduction by William M. Gibson." Reading it in my twenties made me long for the sea life -- and mission accomplished within a decade (till I had my fill).
This happened to me in 1990: I was reading that very copy of Moby Dick, seated on the bow of a wood Thai fishing boat trawling the Andaman Sea, when something in the water caught my eye. I stood up, looked overboard and watched a pure-white tubular-shaped something -- some 90-100 feet long, 15 feet wide, 20 feet below surface -- cross our path perpendicularly and continue steadily northward. It did not surface. Never discovered what it was. Likely not a whale shark, endemic to those waters, as they're grey with white markings, but never pure white.
Could it be people wanting to learn how to talk about the upheaval, the historic times, and how those who lived with them survived? Classics deal with complex subjects, and one of them is how to stay human in the hardest times. Whatever the reason, I love it!
It was never really in decline- it's just that the Internet outside of Substack has tended to give the loudest microphones to the people who erroneously think otherwise...
I do agree to some extent, but I do think there has been a decline of reading classic literature among the elites, and that is, to some extent, reversing, and reversible, in a new way now; and the popular discourse about reading literature has shifted too, as you say, and I think that is more than who speaks loudest.
Perhaps the 'move fast and break things' mentality extended for too long beyond tech, and the elites, in fear of being rendered (or perceived as) redundant, ignored all that wisdom sitting on their shelves, tripping themselves up in their attempts to keep up with the kids. Yay for the classics! Yay for slow stuff!
"Maybe we’re taking literature seriously because the times are complicated. We need humanism to help us see things clearly now. . . The great works are still great. Wisdom is sitting on the shelf, waiting for us. And we need it. . . " —Yes, a thousand times yes!
The thought will dawn on me when I am bored from sitcoms or cartoons: I could be reading the greatest books ever written! We just have to remember they are so close at hand.
I am more worry not about reading but about the mediocracy of modern literature. Reading of classics or modern literature is fine. Look at how many are slowly reading Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or English literature? I was surprise myself, because there was opinion in Russia that Americans don’t read. And it’s not true. Russians themselves have to start slow reading, I think.
People have realized that they've been consuming intellectual junk food in the form of online videos, superficial books, etc. Once they get ahold of some steak and potatoes, there's no going back.
I’m currently reading the book ‘Secondhand Time’ The Last of the Soviets. It’s a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The author is Svetlana Alexievich. It’s oral history of what citizens experienced in the USSR during and after the fall of the Soviet Union. It’s fascinating. It’s the past life, the fall, and the now of life there. One interviewee shared that life in the Soviet Union. ‘We lived in our kitchens…The whole country lived in their kitchens. You’d go to somebody’s house, drink wine, listen to songs, talk about poetry. There’s an open tin can, slices of black bread. Everyone’s happy’. Good literature and the arts got people through an oppressive system. Now I wonder if the renewal of reading the classics is telling of what’s coming. Living in the kitchen, drinking wine, and discussing literature sounds wonderful and everyone’s happy.
Anyway to tell if what we read on substack is AI written or heavily influenced by AI? Have you been fooled or enjoyed a piece that AI generated by a substack writer? I believe I have.
I'm reading Moby Dick! I was halfway through rereading Jane Austen when I decided to take a break. I've had Moby in my sights since I saw the graph about books with challenging words, and Moby was second only to David Copperfield with the highest numbers. I also thought I had read it as a teenager, and wanted to check. I'm several chapters in and already Melville has me absorbed in that world. I don't know that I would have persevered with it at 15 or 16 though.
This is my second year exclusively reading classic literature and I think I might do that forever. It really feels like uncovering 2,000 years worth of civilizational genome.
oh how splendid
And re-reading classic literature is a form of self discovery. My take on each book changes with each decade of my life.
Two days ago, I was saying to my sister that surely at least some of the kids must finally be tiring of the oneupmanship, over-the-topness and outludicrousing of social -- as must the influencers themselves -- and perhaps be even getting curious about those weird rows of differently-worded papery things lining their grandparents' shelves.
Watching social is thankfully out of my life. I tried it, hated myself each time I got sucked in, so deleted it from my phone and only occasionally look at it on my computer. Working social is apparently a vile, stressful job, with a high burnout rate, and what the hell do you do after influencing for a living?
Time for us all to move on from this depressing chapter of intellectual stagnation.
And then this piece appears. And the heart grows wings.
I might just have to pry open Moby Dick and take that sweet Nantucket sleigh-ride once again. I still have my dad's 1959 Dell paperback, boldly proclaiming "75¢" on its cover -- in pieces, but "Complete and Unabridged, Introduction by William M. Gibson." Reading it in my twenties made me long for the sea life -- and mission accomplished within a decade (till I had my fill).
This happened to me in 1990: I was reading that very copy of Moby Dick, seated on the bow of a wood Thai fishing boat trawling the Andaman Sea, when something in the water caught my eye. I stood up, looked overboard and watched a pure-white tubular-shaped something -- some 90-100 feet long, 15 feet wide, 20 feet below surface -- cross our path perpendicularly and continue steadily northward. It did not surface. Never discovered what it was. Likely not a whale shark, endemic to those waters, as they're grey with white markings, but never pure white.
Back to work.
Could it be people wanting to learn how to talk about the upheaval, the historic times, and how those who lived with them survived? Classics deal with complex subjects, and one of them is how to stay human in the hardest times. Whatever the reason, I love it!
yeah agree
It was never really in decline- it's just that the Internet outside of Substack has tended to give the loudest microphones to the people who erroneously think otherwise...
I do agree to some extent, but I do think there has been a decline of reading classic literature among the elites, and that is, to some extent, reversing, and reversible, in a new way now; and the popular discourse about reading literature has shifted too, as you say, and I think that is more than who speaks loudest.
Perhaps the 'move fast and break things' mentality extended for too long beyond tech, and the elites, in fear of being rendered (or perceived as) redundant, ignored all that wisdom sitting on their shelves, tripping themselves up in their attempts to keep up with the kids. Yay for the classics! Yay for slow stuff!
True. But anyone who thinks it’s completely dead is grossly misinformed.
who said dead?
The “death” of many things is often discussed now, with malice aforethought and limited evidence.
Joy!
It's a 2666 summer.
nice
"Maybe we’re taking literature seriously because the times are complicated. We need humanism to help us see things clearly now. . . The great works are still great. Wisdom is sitting on the shelf, waiting for us. And we need it. . . " —Yes, a thousand times yes!
:)
The thought will dawn on me when I am bored from sitcoms or cartoons: I could be reading the greatest books ever written! We just have to remember they are so close at hand.
I am more worry not about reading but about the mediocracy of modern literature. Reading of classics or modern literature is fine. Look at how many are slowly reading Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or English literature? I was surprise myself, because there was opinion in Russia that Americans don’t read. And it’s not true. Russians themselves have to start slow reading, I think.
People have realized that they've been consuming intellectual junk food in the form of online videos, superficial books, etc. Once they get ahold of some steak and potatoes, there's no going back.
I hope that you’re right! Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any evidence of a revival in my corner of Southern California.
Lucky Aaron. Next door’s builder is belting out ‘Head and Heart’ over and over. “oh my god, oh my god…”
I’m currently reading the book ‘Secondhand Time’ The Last of the Soviets. It’s a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The author is Svetlana Alexievich. It’s oral history of what citizens experienced in the USSR during and after the fall of the Soviet Union. It’s fascinating. It’s the past life, the fall, and the now of life there. One interviewee shared that life in the Soviet Union. ‘We lived in our kitchens…The whole country lived in their kitchens. You’d go to somebody’s house, drink wine, listen to songs, talk about poetry. There’s an open tin can, slices of black bread. Everyone’s happy’. Good literature and the arts got people through an oppressive system. Now I wonder if the renewal of reading the classics is telling of what’s coming. Living in the kitchen, drinking wine, and discussing literature sounds wonderful and everyone’s happy.
Anyway to tell if what we read on substack is AI written or heavily influenced by AI? Have you been fooled or enjoyed a piece that AI generated by a substack writer? I believe I have.
I'm reading Moby Dick! I was halfway through rereading Jane Austen when I decided to take a break. I've had Moby in my sights since I saw the graph about books with challenging words, and Moby was second only to David Copperfield with the highest numbers. I also thought I had read it as a teenager, and wanted to check. I'm several chapters in and already Melville has me absorbed in that world. I don't know that I would have persevered with it at 15 or 16 though.