Rereading and I have a rocky relationship. I doubt that rereading and I will ever get along as well as we should, but I’m willing to try. I’ve gotten better at rereading and proofreading my own work (which took a long time but that’s a different story), but rereading pieces of writing that I read isn’t exactly my favorite activity.
I love reading. I love the magic of opening a book and finishing it, taking in all of the words and characters at face value. It feels like a journey, as cliche as that sounds. A journey isn’t as fun if you take it again. For example, let’s say I hypothetically go to Trantor with Isaac Asimov and his protagonist Hari Seldon. We meet some robots, we solve some equations, we save humanity. It’s enlightening and I learn a lot. When I return to earth, I board the ship again, and we do the exact same journey. It’s essentially Groundhog Day. What fun is a journey the second time around? Rereading large parts of a novel bores me to tears. This, of course, is just my idealistic teenage girl take on the matter. Rereading kills the magic in pleasure reading for me. While that seems juvenile, it’s the truth.
Thomas C. Foster acknowledges the importance of rereading in the introduction of How to Read Literature Like a Professor more so than anywhere else in the book. He doesn’t come out and say it, but he reiterates the fact that practice makes perfect when it comes to analyzing literature. This idea goes back to rereading- the more I reread, the better I’ll be able to analyze it.
Rereading is no doubt incredibly important. When I read a text from before the 20th century, I find myself rereading multiple sentences and paragraphs in order to create a solid understanding. Rereading is necessary when I don’t understand the language, syntax, or plot. Rereading is great when clarity is needed. It’s a skill I need to learn to employ in other areas besides clarifying, but that’s another reason why I’m taking this class. I feel that it would be helpful to reread large pieces of writing through an analytical eye rather than for my enjoyment. Hopefully, I become more comfortable with this skill as the year continues.
Hannah, I agree with everything that you said. I also am not much of a re-reader. When I read a book I often form an opinion of it, and that is the only way I can see the story. It does in a way feel as though the magic is taken out of book the time around, but it can also open up a door to new opinions and you can notice words, phrasing, or hidden messages that never would have occurred to you as a reader if you had not taken the time to reread with an open mind. I also understand what you mean when you say that you find yourself rereading 20th century texts. I do this and most of the time am still left not understanding what is going on. I am with you when you say that you hope to become more comfortable with rereading.
ReplyDeleteHannah, I agree with everything that you said. I also am not much of a re-reader. When I read a book I often form an opinion of it, and that is the only way I can see the story. It does in a way feel as though the magic is taken out of book the time around, but it can also open up a door to new opinions and you can notice words, phrasing, or hidden messages that never would have occurred to you as a reader if you had not taken the time to reread with an open mind. I also understand what you mean when you say that you find yourself rereading 20th century texts. I do this and most of the time am still left not understanding what is going on. I am with you when you say that you hope to become more comfortable with rereading.
ReplyDeleteHannah - It is often necessary to re-read difficult text; however, re-read can be very beneficial in current novels that you choose. The imagery becomes brighter with each reading, and even contemporary writers throw in subtleties that you may not notice the first time. The importance of this action is definitely something that Foster hopes his readers and students will understand.
ReplyDeleteHannah,
ReplyDeleteI too hate rereading. I want to throw the book out of a window whenever I am rereading. Rereading bores me. I've learned not to think of it as rereading, though. I am trying a different approach to readdressing a text.
After finishing a longer work, I occasionally return to beginning of the work to pick up on information I might have missed (this type of rereading often helps with educational texts). I also return to any pages I have left marked with confusion to see if any latter information creates insight and fills in blank spots. The ultimate way to reread for me however, addresses what I missed in a text in the first read. I recognize but ignore the important details that shot out in the first read, and I focus my attention on secondary information I skimmed over. The second read-through for me pertains not to drudging through the tedious torture of absorbing a story a second time, but instead to reading the story I missed and picking up the information I tossed away. I hope this gives you new option to re-approaching a text.
Nick
Hannah, I agree with your statement on how rereading sucks out the magic of the first time reading a book. I think that the initial run through of a reading a book is when a reader enjoys the book the most, for it is a fresh and exciting new story. However, rereading has the ability to take the fun of reading and turn into more of hassle. When I read a book I want to be able to enjoy the story, the characters, and all of the little details, but rereading makes a person take into account the literary information and not the story. Rereading is both a hassle and an enjoyment because it does provide insight on the hidden meaning of symbols, characters, and ideas within a book.
ReplyDeleteHannah Graham,
ReplyDeleteI think rereading sometimes enhances what you're reading, and here's why:
You read your favorite book for the first time, and like you said, there's magic within that first adventure. You decide to read it again. You discover aspects you were completely ignorant of beforehand and those missing features make the story that much better.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do not have the attention span to reread a book. But for the times that I did, I never regretted it. It not only gave the magic of the book more power over me, but it had me relive that magic over again.
But, like I said, I'm not the biggest fan of rereading myself.
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ReplyDeleteHannah, I agree with your analysis on the importance. I find a sense of monotony in rereading texts. I don't voluntarily reread unless the text was extraordinarily fascinating. Rereading is terribly monotonous in my mind and when I am assigned to do so I usually find myself not truly processing what I am reading. I don't think rereading is always just for people who can't grasp the meaning during the first read. I do recognize and acknowledge its importance in certain contexts, but these contexts are very rare and few in my world. I tire of things easily so it's no surprise that rereading something already familiar seems like a chore to me. I enjoy new things and feel like rereading is a waste of time in most scenarios.
ReplyDeleteHannah, I have to disagree with what you said about a journey not being as fun a second time. If anything, journeys are more interesting when repeated. Perhaps the second time you embark on your quest to find the man of your dreams you realize it is no coincidence that you have to travel through the Mexican desert to reach your lover. The first time you walk through the desert you don’t see the symbolism of the arid landscape. The second time, however, you finally realize the dry and dusty geography symbolizes your nonexistent love life. Foster emphasizes the importance of understanding every part of the literature, like geography, and rereading helps that occur.
ReplyDelete