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Books that have changed me
Jun. 9th, 2007 11:15 amWayne Booth writes in The Company We Keep that in the past it was accepted that the books we read would have an effect on the formation of our character. (The move away from this he attributes partly to the emphasis on the essential individual rather than the person existing in a community and shaped by that community.) Today we don’t discuss this aspect very much, certainly not in university, and yet he usually gets a quick response when he asks people to name a fiction that changed their character or conduct.
What books changed me that way? Often the changes are subtle. After reading Bleak House, I was more critical of my tendency to note my faults without doing anything about them, because I was frustrated with Harold Skimpole. Books like The Story of O encouraged my immoral tendencies and delight in shocking people. (My dislike of it today shows how I've changed.) The Four Quartets inspired me to be more knowledgeable and encouraged my philosophical tendencies, in a similar way that Ulysses did for Booth. Lady Audley’s Secret made me a Victorianist, but I don’t think it affected my conduct.
I’ve noticed that in my youth I preferred books with loners, the alienated hero, cut adfrift from society. That’s the way I felt then. Today I have little patience for that. I value the individual within the community, and I believe that negotiating our own individual needs and desires with those of our community is pretty much the hardest and the most important thing we do. I think this is why I love Jane Austen’s books so much. I’m glad I didn’t come to them when I was young, because I probably would have disdained them. Of course, when I first fell in love with Pride and Prejudice, my enjoyment was based on Lizzie’s superiority to those around her and on the inevitable happy romance.
What books changed me that way? Often the changes are subtle. After reading Bleak House, I was more critical of my tendency to note my faults without doing anything about them, because I was frustrated with Harold Skimpole. Books like The Story of O encouraged my immoral tendencies and delight in shocking people. (My dislike of it today shows how I've changed.) The Four Quartets inspired me to be more knowledgeable and encouraged my philosophical tendencies, in a similar way that Ulysses did for Booth. Lady Audley’s Secret made me a Victorianist, but I don’t think it affected my conduct.
I’ve noticed that in my youth I preferred books with loners, the alienated hero, cut adfrift from society. That’s the way I felt then. Today I have little patience for that. I value the individual within the community, and I believe that negotiating our own individual needs and desires with those of our community is pretty much the hardest and the most important thing we do. I think this is why I love Jane Austen’s books so much. I’m glad I didn’t come to them when I was young, because I probably would have disdained them. Of course, when I first fell in love with Pride and Prejudice, my enjoyment was based on Lizzie’s superiority to those around her and on the inevitable happy romance.