Reading, because we control it, is adaptable to our needs and rhythms. We are free to indulge our subjective associative impulse; the term I coin for this is deep reading: the slow and meditative possession of a book. We don't just read the words, we dream our lives in their vicinity. The printed page becomes a kind of wrought-iron fence we crawl through, returning, once we have wandered, to the very place we started.
Interpretation
Deep reading allows individuals to engage with texts in a personal and reflective way, enhancing understanding and creativity.
This quote by Sven Birkerts emphasizes the concept of 'deep reading,' where the reader actively interacts with a text, allowing for a personal connection and reflection. Through this process, the printed words become more than just text; they transform into a medium for exploration, imagination, and introspection, illustrating how reading can be a deeply enriching and subjective experience.
In practice
During a book club meeting, to discuss the importance of personal interpretation in reading.
The part of my education that has had the deepest influence wasn't any particular essay or even a specific class, it was how I was able to apply everything I learned in the library to certain situations in my life. . . The library takes me away from my everyday life and allows me to see other places and learn to understand other people unlike myself.
You know, nothing is more important than education, because nowhere are our stakes higher; our future depends on the quality of education of our children today.
Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.
Men and women must be educated, in a great degree, by the opinions and manners of the society they live in.
Most of us who turn to any subject we love remember some morning or evening hour when we got on a high stool to reach down an untried volume, or sat with parted lips listening to a new talker, or for very lack of books began to listen to the voices within, as the first traceable beginning of our love.
Are you a reader? If you aren't a reader, you might as well forget trying to be a writer.
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