something to ponder

In the first two chapters Sven Birkerts covers many different topics in a seemingly flowing single line of thought. He describes his innate love of books from a young age. He talks of how he rebelled against his father by reading in private. Birkerts also brings up a very interesting discussion about his inward concern for today’s youth and how they don’t appreciate good literature anymore. He talks about a college English class he taught in 1992 at a local college, he had picked out what he thought was going to be a great reading list for his class, he was shocked however to find that most of the class did not appreciate his taste in literature and just could not get into the story. In today’s age everything is digitalized, books are in a sense becoming obsolete, they degrade over time and today we make everything to last “forever.”

Birkerts in reaction to his classes lack of interest in books talks about how he and his wife promoted books with their young daughter, and her slight obsession with Beauty and the Beast at a young age, he makes an interesting point in saying,

“And then I despair. I conjure up a whole generation of children enslaved by a single carefully scripted, lushly animated narrative…and I wonder what tale or rhyme or private fantasy will be able to compete with the high-powered rendition from Hollywood’s top talents.” (page 30)

It is true, in today’s age a good majority of the population watch movies when they want to relax, true there are also the fan crazes of books such as Harry Potter, or Twilight, but can a generation really become educated in literature by books such as these? Designed to please the masses?

Sven Brings to attention his non American heritage, and how a second language never truly feels your own.

“I don’t recall stammering or looking up words I didn’t have, or suffering ridicule from my preschool peers. But I do know for a long time, for much of my childhood, I felt that English was not mine, that it belonged to them.”(page 39)

Blending into a new culture is difficult, when you doubt how well you actually blend in it’s odd to have people not pick you out as a foreigner. It’s not the norm, and in most cases it’s easier to try and hide it. My experiences of living in Germany for four years taught me how to blend into a new culture to hide the fact that I was an American, to speak one language out on the streets and another one as soon as you cross your front door. Birkerts makes mention to “the American kid” and how he tried so hard to be that, to hide his culture, he was embarrassed to bring friends home because his parents gave their heritage away. In reading his work, you can’t guess his heritage be it American or not, we only know because he tells us.

Even in my own experiences I don’t read the classics because I find them boring or to slow or difficult to get in to, I have started and not finished countless books that are classified as classics. Our generation’s idea of a perfect lazy afternoon is to watch a movie, or surf the web. With most Disney movies being watered down versions of stories that are in most respects dark and disturbing, what kind of values are we then being taught?

This leads to the question of what truly lasts forever? Is it a feeling you get from enveloping yourself in a plot that enthralls you to a point where you are in the story it’s self? The contradiction of you basic beliefs poked and prodded by literary excerpts? Or the plastic bottle in your back yard that has been there for two plus years and shows no sign of relenting to natures intrusions? Good literature will always remain a part of society, it’s just becoming more difficult to find. The morals and lessons are still the same; it’s just the times that have changed.