It pays to not read

For years I've been a big believer in faking it when it comes to errudition. It seems that I am in lofty company.

The Economist: The importance of not reading

“THERE is more than one way not to read, the most radical of which is not to open a book at all.” Thus begins Pierre Bayard's witty and provocative meditation on the nature, scale and necessity of non-reading. With thousands of books published every year, it is, he points out, the primary way people relate to books.

In my final year in college, where I majored in English and Philosophy, one of my senior level courses was "Canadian Literature from 1945 to the Present." One of the assignments was a 10,000 word essay on a Canadian author, and to lead the rest of the class in a one hour seminar.

I chose Margaret Atwood as the subject of my paper and seminar, since I don't actively dislike her prose, and can actually read her without losing consciousness, something I can't say about Rudy Wiebe or Sheila Watson (zzzzzzzzz...).

Naturally, I did not actually read any of Ms. Atwood's work prior to embarking upon my assignment. I skimmed volumes of post modernist and feminist literary critical theory for catchy sounding buzzwords.

My paper and seminar consisted of kissing more post-modern feminist ass than Julia Kristeva at a Jennifer Berezan concert. You never saw such mastery of deconstructionist buzzwords outside of a Campus Marxists Society meeting. Needless to say, I recieved an 8/9, which was the highest grade my professor could award to anyone with a Y-chromosome.

And no, I'm not even slightly ashamed of myself.

Sphere: Related Content