Academic Reading: Sometimes Tedious, Sometimes Wonderful!

Besides the novels, memoirs, and other books, as well as magazines, that I read for pleasure and write about in this blog, I also read many books and academic journals for professional reasons. I need and want to keep up with the research in my discipline, and in related disciplines. This reading feeds into my own research and writing, as well as into my teaching. To be honest, not all of this academic reading is fascinating; sometimes journals pile up for a while before I get to them, and sometimes I skim through them, reading only the articles that are most relevant to my interests. But when I do find the articles or books or book chapters that are relevant and interesting, even exciting, I feel a great, sometimes even exhilarating sense of discovery. I get out my pencil and underline and write notes in the margins, with liberal applications of post-its (such a great invention!) as well. I enter references onto my various bibliographies. I put journals and books into various piles related to various of my writing projects. It is a different type of reading than my reading of novels for pure enjoyment, but each provides different types of pleasure and enrichment in my life.

Colonial India

Because I lived as a child in barely postcolonial India, I have always been drawn to literature set in India. Novels about India have political, social and emotional resonance for me. On March 1, 2010, I posted a list of selected novels by Indian writers. Today I am writing about novels by British writers that are set in India during the Raj. These novels certainly have a colonial perspective, being of their time, but also manage to transcend that perspective in many ways. Perhaps the greatest such novel, and certainly the best-known, is E. M. Forster’s “A Passage to India,” set in India during the later years of the British Raj. Forster felt a real connection to India and Indians, and his novel shows understanding of all its characters, both British and Indian. The next most well known example of this genre is Paul Scott’s “The Raj Quartet,” four interconnected novels also about the British Raj. These novels are satisfying on so many levels: historical, psychological, cultural, and of course literary. They were collectively made into one of the best PBS presentations ever: “The Jewel in the Crown.” Scott followed this quartet with another novel set in India after Independence, called "Staying On," also very good. Other British novels set in India are M. M. Kaye’s huge bestseller about the Mutiny, “The Far Pavilions,” and Rumer Godden’s delightful novels reflecting her childhood in India, such as “The River,” which was made into a film by Jean Renoir.

A Living Shrine for Books

On the third floor of the library of the university where I teach is the enchanting Rare Book Room. As visitors walk in, they are surrounded by gorgeous antique wooden tables, comfortable old-fashioned sofas and chairs, windows overlooking a green vista of the city, display cases with ever-changing exhibits, and a large, authentic printing press. And, of course, everywhere, there are books in beautiful old-fashioned cabinets. This is where old, rare books and book-related items are kept. Although they cannot be checked out, they can be looked at, and looked through, in this beautiful, inviting room. The atmosphere is welcoming, and the Rare Book Librarian encourages visitors to enjoy the room and its contents. As part of a library orientation every semester, I take my students to this special room, and the Librarian shows them such artifacts as ancient stones with hieroglyphic writing, beautiful aged scrolls from China, pages from a Gutenberg Bible, books that are art objects in various unexpected shapes, and more. He also explains how the printing press works, and tells them about the special collections of the works of various authors. The students are always impressed with the room and with these displays. I never tire of visiting this living shrine to the history and variety of the written word.

Love, Passion, Crossed Stars, Controversy, etc.

As I posted on 7/20/10, I liked Emma Donoghue's "The Sealed Letter" very much. I have now read two more of her books: "Touchy Subjects: Stories" (Harcourt, 2006) and "Landing: A Novel" (Harcourt, 2007). "Touchy Subjects" lives up to its title, covering all sorts of sensitive topics in diverting ways. "Landing" tells the story of two women -- one a flight attendant from Ireland and the other a librarian from a small town in Ontario, Canada -- who meet on a plane under unusual circumstances and fall madly in love. They write, call, e-mail, and visit as often as possible, but the big question is how they can continue their romance living so far apart. They are both very happy and very miserable in their long-distance relationship. The ending is somewhat predictable, but satisfying. The plot sounds a bit corny, but the writing is so literate and the characters so winning that I didn't mind. As a bonus, readers learn a lot about the two locales, aided by many (but not TOO many) historical and literary references; there are also several entertaining peripheral characters.

Is It the Author or the Book?

Yesterday at the library, a friendly-looking woman saw me checking out a novel by Jennifer Weiner. She enthusiastically pointed at the book and said, "Oh, I LOVE her!" I naturally asked, "So this book is good?" She replied, "Oh, I haven't read anything she's written, but I saw her on the 'Today' show and she was fantastic!" I of course nodded and said something innocuous like "Great!" But I went away wondering about admiring authors as personalities without actually reading their books, or apparently even planning to. (The woman hadn't even said something like, "Now I want to read her books," or "I'm planning to read her new book as soon as I have time.") It was as if seeing and hearing the author, especially on TV, where she was framed as a sort of celebrity, was enough. Obviously there is nothing essentially "wrong" with this. And in the interests of supporting and preserving authors and publishers and good literature, it could be argued that any exposure of authors is good for the overall cause. But this concept of "loving" the author without reading her work seemed odd and a bit sad to me.

"The Pleasing Hour"

After my ambivalent review on 7/23/10 of "The English Teacher," by Lily King, you may be surprised that I then read the same author's "The Pleasing Hour" (Grove, 1999). Despite my ambivalence, I was impressed enough with King's writing, as well as with good reviews and a listing as "A New York Times Notable Book of the Year," to read her earlier novel, "The Pleasing Hour." I enjoyed the book, and was reminded of King's talent at creating intriguing, if usually somewhat damaged, characters. She is also very good at showing very viscerally the deep, inescapable influence, whether acknowledged or not, that one's family of origin has on one's life. Relatedly, King's characters often have lost a family member, frequently a mother, young. In this novel, a young American woman, Rosie, who has gotten pregnant in order to give her infertile sister a child, then in sorrow needs to get far away from her sister and the child. She goes to Paris as a nanny, and becomes entangled in the life of the family she works for. The mother in that family, Nicole, is beautiful and seemingly impossible to know much about, but it turns out she has her own sad tale of childhood loss. Gradually their two stories come together. Although the two main characters, as well as the father of the family, Marc, are sometimes less than admirable and sometimes less than likable, King makes us understand and feel empathy for all of them as creatures of their upbringings and circumstances. The stories of the three very individual children of the family, Rosie's charges, are also compelling.

"Red Hook Road"

"Red Hook Road" (Doubleday, 2010) is a wonderful new novel by Ayelet Waldman. Yes, the same Ayelet Waldman who wrote "Bad Mother," which I posted about on 7/18/10; Waldman, also the author of a mystery series, is a very versatile writer. "Red Hook Road" begins with a tragedy: a young couple is killed in an automobile accident just an hour after their wedding in a small town in Maine. The rest of the novel tells the stories of the survivors: the families of the bride and groom, who have had an uneasy relationship in the past, and now struggle to find a way to co-exist, and to keep going. Waldman has a gift for portraying her complex, interesting, and often surprising characters. The mother of the bride and the mother of the groom are perhaps the most interesting, but the bride's sister and the groom's brother are also compelling, as they make major decisions about their lives, and gradually find some solace in each other. The bride's grandfather, an aging world-famous violinist, has his own story, and is a figure of dignity and hope. Another emblem of hope for the future is a young girl, an adopted cousin on the groom's side, who proves to have great musical talent, a talent which is nurtured by the bride's grandfather and mother. By the end of the book, several years after the terrible accident, events bring more loss but also hard-won reconciliation, peace, and even joy to the survivors. This novel is an example, to me, of a classic great novel: well-portrayed and varied characters that readers will care about, a compelling story including some side stories, a real sense of place, wonderful details, realism, reflections on social class and other issues, love, loss, hope, and more. Highly recommended.