Manguel discussed reading in a way I had never thought of before: it's complicated. Our eyes take the words in through a series of connections in our brain. It's not as simple as our eyes see the words and our brain automatically understands. Manguel describes this system: "... I first apprehend the system in an apparently erratic manner, through fickle eyes, and then reconstruct the code of signs through a connecting chain of processing neurons in my brain- a chain that varies according to the nature of the text I'm reading- and imbue that text with something- emotion, physical sentience, intuition, knowledge, soul- that depends on who I am and how I became who I am" (38). It's pretty crazy that our brains put that much effort into something that we take for granted, that we do in our everyday life without even batting an eye.
Going even further, Manguel starts to talk about how silent reading started. Personally, I had never thought about it. I just assumed people always read silently unless they were rehearsing a play or doing some other public event where reading aloud was required. The fact that everyone read aloud is mind blowing and chaotic. Could you imagine if everyone in Manhattan started reading aloud? There would be no end to the noise between the advertisements on billboards, ads on buses, writing on a guy's t-shirt, newspapers, magazines, a Facebook post on a computer or phone. But people back then thought reading in silence was insane: "According to Plutarch, Alexander the Great read a letter from his mother in silence in the fourth century BC, to the bewilderment of his soldiers" (43). It's hard to believe that those people were missing out on the power of their own interpretation of literature for so long, being forced to listen to other's translations. It's almost manipulative, but interesting. We've come so far in such little time with the way we read and even write. Between how our brains decipher words on a page and how reading has evolved, I'm starting to think it's more of an art form than the hobby it's often referred to as today.
I have to admit that I have always just picked up a book and never thought much about the process that was involved in reading. I love that Manguel explains how we read by looking all over the page, and not just looking at the sentences from left to right. This is also something that I have never considered before Manguel pointed it out. Also, I would have to agree with you that the portion of the text on where silent reading came from is very eye opening. I never have thought twice about why most people read silently rather than aloud, so this text has given me a whole new perspective on why I sit in my recliner and silently enjoy my latest historical fiction novel. I honestly can not imagine having to listen to everyone in one classroom read aloud at once, let alone a whole city! The ability to learn would be severely impaired!
ReplyDeleteThe point you raised didn't even occur to me! I also thought silent reading was something everyone was doing for centuries, like it was something you didn't have to think about. I could only imagine how loud the world would be if everyone read out loud simultaneously. You wouldn't be able to think, let alone comprehend what you're reading at the time. After this reading, I'm more grateful that we all read silently!
ReplyDelete