Alan Jacobs On the Pleasure of Reading
My friend Ross Parker recently posted this on his blog, and I enjoyed it so much I thought I’d share it with you.
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"Thanks and thanks again to Him who offers to the man whom the sorrows of life have assaulted and left naked–offers to him the fig leaf of the Word with which he can cover his wretchedness." -Søren Kierkegaard
a fig leaf
The leaf means redeemed. It's compensation for all my deficiencies. The leaf means shameless. Not naked or trendy, simply covered. And there's no need to force fitting-in when you're wearing a giant leaf. The leaf means balance. Safe to be dangerous, loved to be loving, an advocate of both justice and mercy. This leaf is lasting - it won't fall off or fade. A holy veneer, it always protects and guards. Represented and taken care of. The leaf is Christ, my perfect covering.
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You got me at the headline. Many good things here, but briefly, I love the Auden take-away. Reading pleasurable things helps us build up enough enjoyment of reading to tackle a classic (which are typically more demanding), and then we rest, return to fun reading, and then go back to a classic again. Love it.
I wonder if Matthew Arnold’s outmoded assertion, mentioned here, might have truth in it still. Engaging with good books means encountering creativity, honest reporting on the human condition, beauty and tragedy in mingled fashion, and some intellectual robustness. If the church of his day wasn’t providing that… well, I wonder if we’d receive the same prescription if Arnold were our contemporary.