On the Art of Reading · Chapter
Lecture XI: Of Selection explained
The lecturer returns to the original problem of how to teach reading amidst an overwhelming accumulation of books.
What happens
The lecturer returns to the original problem of how to teach reading amidst an overwhelming accumulation of books. He argues that true education must rely on a careful selection of masterpieces—the great classics—which are neither too numerous nor too difficult, and can impart genuine delight and taste. Using the library of Alexandria's burning and the modern librarian's burden as parables, he contrasts the Athenian gentleman's unencumbered life with the modern reader's suffocation by mass. He critiques the 18th century's narrow, artificial boundaries that excluded the poor and medieval literature, yet admires its prose craftsmanship. The lecture concludes that a few chosen works can guide a pupil to discern the better from the worse.
Themes in this chapter
The Art of Selection
Central to the lecture: the necessity of choosing a few masterpieces to teach true delight and taste, amidst the overwhelming mass of books.
Critique of Modernity
The lecturer criticizes the modern accumulation of books as a barrier to culture, contrasting it with the unencumbered life of ancient Athenians.
Value of the Classics
Emphasizes that masterpieces, though few, are the foundation of teaching and can guide readers to discern quality.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The lecturer reflects on the problem of book accumulation and the need for selection, using personal observations and historical parallels.
- Sir Thomas Browne
Quoted for his musings on duration and the fate of books, illustrating the absurdity of storing ephemeral publications.
- Plato
Referenced for his portrayal of Athenian life without books, and for the dialogue 'Phaedrus' which illuminates the ancient view of reading.
- Socrates
Mentioned as walking with Plato in Athens, embodying the oral, book-free culture of classical Greece.
- Dr. Johnson
Cited for his attack on metaphysical poets, representing the 18th century's exclusionary literary taste.
- Gibbon
Listed among 18th century prose masters admired for their orderly marshalling of argument.
Key passages
“however we teach, our trust will in the end repose upon masterpieces, upon the great classics of whatever Language or Literature we are handling: and these, in any language are neither enormous in number and mass, nor extraordinarily difficult to detect, nor (best of all) forbidding to the reader by reason of their own difficulty.”
No matter our teaching method, we ultimately rely on the great classics, which are not too many, not too hard to find, and not intimidating to read.
The lecturer asserts the foundational role of a select few masterpieces in education.
“When the great library of Alexandria went up in flames, doubtless its ashes awoke an appreciable and almost immediate energy in the crops of the Nile Delta.”
The burning of the Library of Alexandria likely fertilized the Nile Delta crops with its ashes.
A metaphorical reflection on the physical transformation of books into matter, contrasting with their intellectual loss.
“the question, What are we to do with all these books accumulating in the world? really is a question: that their mere accumulation really does heap up against us a barrier of such enormous and brute mass that the stream of human culture must needs be choked and spread into marsh unless we contrive to pipe it through.”
The sheer number of books creates a physical barrier that threatens to stifle culture unless we find a way to channel it.
The central problem of the lecture: the overwhelming volume of publications.
