A History of Reading by Steven Roger Fischer, 2019 revised edition

In an A.O. Scott essay about reading, published in the N.Y. Times Book Review section on June 21^st, 2023, Mr. Scott mentioned Mr. Fischer’s book: A History of Reading. I ordered the book from Sno-Isle Interlibrary Loan service. Mr. Fischer is a New Zealand linguist and former Director of the Institute of Polynesian Languages and Literatures in Auckland, New Zealand.

In his Introduction the author says: “What music is to the spirit, reading is to the mind. Reading challenges, empowers, bewitches, enriches.” In seven well-documented chapters, Mr. Fischer starts with Egypt and runs us up to present time. He tells us that writing prioritizes sound, and reading prioritizes meaning. And a key point to remember – for most of written history, reading was reciting. If scribes bore false witness, they were killed.

Reading represents freedom to me; the freedom to absorb anything and the freedom to think about whatever has been read. No one should be dictating what you can read, right? But some have raised the issue about what is appropriate reading material for those under a certain age. As a parent, I understand their concern. Some parents want the libraries to withhold or move material they feel is inappropriate for children. But I don’t like their approach. It’s confrontational and draws a line in the sand. And they get to decide for us.

Many of us expect parents to make suggestions and guide their children when it comes to choosing material. Some parents take no responsibility for kids’ choices. Schools may provide suggestions for age-appropriate reading lists. But when you expect school boards to arbitrarily censor books, you are putting the responsibility for choosing or discarding material in the hands of citizen-driven pressure groups. Where is the freedom in that?

  In Mr. Scott’s essay he says that: “Reading liberates and torments us, enlightens and       bewilders us, makes and unmakes our social and solitary selves.”

Most of us are nodding our heads in agreement. That book that looked so promising on the shelf, ended up sparking feelings of disgust, anger, or maybe horror. Some books chime within us and spark feelings that we can scarcely understand. Scott makes the case that: “Reading, like democracy or sexual desire, is an unmanageable, inherently destabilizing force in human life.” Reading holds risk as well as promise. Reading gives us a connection with another person and their imagination and opinions. The only price we pay is our time. And yes, a risk is involved, but taking a risk implies the freedom to do so. That is the crucial element: free to choose for ourselves.

Mr. Fischer makes the same argument. “A reader can choose to understand, react to, and interpret the author’s work however the reader wants….No text, not even the most fundamental religious, dictates to a reader. It is the reader who chooses how to react, what to think. The wonder in reading is that the writer is never in control. It is the reader who plays God.”

We choose to believe, cast aside, denounce or embrace the material we read. There’s freedom of speech, freedom of the press and there’s freedom of the mind. 

(Steven Roger Fischer also wrote: A History of Writing in 2021. Also available via the Sno-Isle Library system using the Inter-Library Loan portal.)