The student was 22 years old and had been out of high school a few years before attending college. His work in construction was at a dead end. He felt as though advancement were impossible. He was just moving from company to company, accepting seasonal layoffs as routine. There seemed to be no intellectual stimulation as an unskilled laborer. A college education seemed to be a way of extending his career ladder.

After the first day of his required English class he visited my office to tell me he wasn't used to studying but would work hard. He said that he was worried about writing since he hadn't done much since high school graduation. He did admit that writing seemed to be a tool he would need for a successful career change. "It is a way to leave ideas with someone," he said. He had the right idea. Spoken ideas don't linger like written ones.I asked him for examples of what he had written. He could think of nothing he had written. "I don't even remember writing a letter in the past year."

He asked what he could have done to prepare himself for a writing class. I told him that in my experience, people who read tend to write with more authority.

"I'd like to know what you have read in the past year. Do you read the newspaper?"

"I don't subscribe to the paper but sometimes I pick one up when I travel or to check out the sports section."

"Do you read any magazines?"

"I subscribed to a sports magazine for awhile but stopped because I didn't have time to read it. It seemed like every issue was the same."

"What about books?"

"I'll be honest. I haven't read a book since high school and I only remember reading one book my senior year."

"Why don't you read?"

"I just got tired of books in school. They don't interest me. There was a time when I read Western novels, but they all seem the same."

This student would still be interested in reading had he become a mature reader. He never graduated from escapist fiction, which somehow seems the same book after book, to interpretive literature, which requires patience and insight and is built upon a tradition that can only be understood by reading. He lost interest in reading because he didn't graduate to the good stuff.

Time magazine called Philip Larkin of the Hull University library the "pre-eminent poet in English of his time." He died in 1985, leaving poems that offer advice to readers who don't ever graduate to serious literature.

His poem "A Study of Reading Habits," reprinted above, identifies three stages in a reader's progression.

In the first stanza the reader escapes reality by devouring popular fiction. The reader identifies with a hero who wins using physical force.

The adolescent reader in the second stanza enjoys the adventures of the bold villain. He may be into Stephen King or James Bond-type stories.

In the third stanza the reader finds that he can no longer escape into fiction. He seems to identify with the minor and weak characters and in fact prefers alcohol as an escape. The jump is never made into serious interpretive fiction that lasts.

The enjoyment of interpretive fiction is progressive. The insights from one good book help the reader enjoy the next book even more. The key is to make the effort to begin by reading good literature. Reading enriches life, provides enjoyment and helps us communicate better.

*****

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A study of reading habits

by Philip Larkin

When getting my nose in a book

Cured most things short of school,

It was worth ruining my eyes

To know I could still keep cool,

And deal out the old right hook

To dirty dogs twice my size.

Later, with inch-thick specs,

Evil was just my lark:

Me and my cloak and fangs

Had ripping times in the dark.

The men I clubbed with sticks!

I broke them up like meringues.

Don't read much now: the dude

Who lets the girl down before

The hero arrives, the chap

View Comments

Who's yellow and keeps the store,

Seem far too familiar. Get stewed:

Books are a load of crap.

Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd. from "The Whitsun Weddings," by Philip Larkin.

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