"At the age of 26, when I returned to New York after an inglorious stab at graduate work in medieval history on the frozen steppes of Chicago, I had a horrifying realization: I was illiterate." [click to read the rest of the essay].
It might sound surprising that someone could get through graduate school without picking up the classics along the way, but lots of us manage to get through school without having read the classics, and then wonder what we've been missing. The author of the essay resolves her problem the old-fashioned way, but for those who don't have enough hours in the day, are audiobooks cheating?
Nope. (Well, not if you're listening to unabridged editions, at least--those 3 disc abridgments are another story). Here's why:
1) You're getting the entire text, word for word, so no one can say you missed out on anything. Sometimes you even get an author interview at the end!
2) People listened to stories long before they developed written text. It used to be common to listen to stories around the fire, or even to have one person read from a book while others listened. Listening to an audiobook can recreate that experience.
3) Many people absorb content better when it's read aloud. It doesn't do any good to buy a book if you can't pay attention long enough to learn from it.
So, for those of us who may not have gotten around to reading all those classics we weren't forced to read in school, audiobooks are a fantastic option for expanding our cultural literacy. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
One of the greatest works of fiction ever written, Crime and Punishment is an intense psychological study, a terrifying murder mystery, and a fascinating detective thriller instilled with philosophical, religious, and social commentary. [more]
This is the chilling classic of a girl haunted by her own imagination and by the ghost of Rebecca de Winter. After honeymooning in Italy the dashing Max de Winter returns with his innocent young bride to Manderley, the beautiful family estate in Cornwall. Yet the former mistress' disturbing presence lingers throughout the house. [more]
Wuthering Heights is the story of love turning on itself and of the violence and misery that result from thwarted passion. A book of immense power, it is filled with the raw beauty of the moors and a deep compassion for the conflicting destinies of men and women. [more]
No comments:
Post a Comment