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SF-LIT  February 1997

SF-LIT February 1997

Subject:

Reading and Memory

From:

"Eric H. Hung" <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Science Fiction and Fantasy Listserv <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Wed, 5 Feb 1997 15:05:02 -0500

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (47 lines)

> ========================
>
> Subject: Early reading, was Re: Criticism and a few corrections.
>
> > I homeschool my own children, and it was because their
> > reading skills were being neglected that I took this
> > decision.  To me, reading develops the mind in a way that a
> > non-reader cannot even comprehend.  Yes, I believe that it
> > develops the mind in a superior way to the same information
> > ingested through film or television, but this may be my
> > particular bias.
>
> > What do other members of the list feel?
>
>         Blessed words, Chas!
>
>         The follow up question would be: why so many people don't read,
> don't learn to read and aren't interested? But unfortunately it's
> off-topic, and I already see Ms Stumbaugh frowning on me for having
> brought it up. (Please don't feed me the reading-impaired and
> learning-impaired bit: I have the nasty suspicion that it is an excuse to
> call support staff to do the work that should be done by a no-nonsense
> teacher. Very few kids understand the need to learn the three Rs, which
> they need to learn anyway!)
>
>         Nicola
>
This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but it doesn't have to be.  I could
easily imagine a science-fiction or fantasy author writing a book
involving this topic.  Anyhow,  Chas is correct in that reading develops
the mind in a way that is special.  Moreover, today's Western societies
are biased towards a mind that is developed through reading.  However,
this is not always the case.  Literature in medieval culture, for example,
is passed primarily through the oral tradition and only secondarily
through a written tradition.  This does not mean that the medieval mind is
not developed.  It only means that the medieval mind is developed along
very different lines.  For example, people had a much better memory in
general (it appears).  It also affects the method of reading--e.g. since
reading meant reading aloud, spelling did not matter that much so long as
the pronounciation is correct.  An extraordinarily good book that deals
with this subject is _The Book of Memory:  A Study of Memory in Medieval
Culture_ by Mary Carruthers (Cambridge University Press, 1990).  Does
anyone know of a work of fiction that looks at alternative modes of
memory?  I would be really interested in reading such a book.

Eric Hung

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