tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7017303008680686537.post303343176475514498..comments2023-07-06T11:06:53.714-04:00Comments on Fiction is so overrated: On the plane with LatroChad Hullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17774092046594256969noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7017303008680686537.post-27943747562189104092008-07-14T13:21:00.000-04:002008-07-14T13:21:00.000-04:00So are you guys telling me it would be in the best...So are you guys telling me it would be in the best interest of my ever-developing intellect to stop reading Playboy for the articles?cdbohannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00307519773538430158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7017303008680686537.post-32128431998888167782008-07-11T15:07:00.000-04:002008-07-11T15:07:00.000-04:00Ah, Dwayne... my dear misguided martyr. I'll have...Ah, Dwayne... my dear misguided martyr. I'll have to send you a very long email to set you straight. I'm glad you are seeking help and gladder still that you've come to me. I shall help you my child.<BR/><BR/>In short, the first Thoreau quote didn't answer my question: "Is it okay today to ask a reader to, ‘work’ or do we expect to pick up a book in the same passive manner we do the remote control?"<BR/><BR/>To evaluate things on deliberate or reserved grounds is subject to the person doing the evaluation. Some people read Crime and Punishment as if it is serious "literature." I only think it's the single most influential piece of 'pulp, commercial' fiction written in the past few hundred years.<BR/><BR/>Certainly no one can discern the authors intentions after they've passed, but of those that are still with us, would you really want to know exactly what was in their mind at the time of writing or would you rather read the book for personal enjoyment--perhaps even, think--and come to your own conclusion? <BR/><BR/>As for Thoreau and his race of "tit-men" happily, I'm not descended from them...<BR/><BR/>We really need to hang out some time. I miss the old Harvey-Given days.Chad Hullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17774092046594256969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7017303008680686537.post-84206897381829445332008-07-11T14:26:00.000-04:002008-07-11T14:26:00.000-04:00I'm going to sacrifice myself by sounding like a p...I'm going to sacrifice myself by sounding like a pretentious ass who quotes 19th century authors. But goddamn it, this here is relevant. <BR/><BR/>You ask, "Is it okay today to ask a reader to, ‘work’ or do we expect to pick up a book in the same passive manner we do the remote control?". <BR/><BR/>Here it is, from Walden by Henry D. Thoreau: "Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written..." <BR/><BR/>That's a nice statement that rings true. But now check out this slap on the face and see how you feel: "we are a race of tit-men, and soar but little higher in our intellectual flights than the columns of the daily paper...I confess I do not make any very broad distinction between the illiterateness of my townsman who can not read at all, and the illiterateness of him who has learned to read only what is for children and feeble intellects."<BR/><BR/>DAMN!<BR/><BR/>DwayneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com