Q. and I finished reading The Story of My Life by Helen Keller on Wednesday, June 10th. One of the passages in the penultimate chapter really hit me in the soul. It goes like this:
"I am afraid I have written too much about my book-friends, and yet I have mentioned only the authors I love most; and from this fact one might easily suppose that my circle of friends was very limited and undemocratic, which would be a very wrong impression. I like many writers for many reasons--Carlyle for his ruggedness and scorn of shams; Wordsworth, who teaches the oneness of man and nature; I find an exquisite pleasure in the oddities and surprises of Hood, in Herrick's quaintness and the palpable scent of lily and rose in his verses; I like Whittier for his enthusiasms and moral rectitude. I knew him, and the gentle remembrance of our friendship doubles the pleasure I have in reading his poems. I love Mark Twain--who does not? The gods, too, loved him and put into his heart all manner of wisdom; then, fearing lest he should become a pessimist, they spanned his mind with a rainbow of love and faith. I like Scott for his freshness, dash and large honesty. I love all writers whose minds, like Lowell's, bubble up in the sunshine of optimism--fountains of joy and good will, with occasionally a splash of anger and here and there a healing spray of sympathy and pity.
"In a word, literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book-friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness. The things I have learned and the things I have been taught seem of ridiculously little importance compared with their 'large loves and heavenly charities.'"
I think about all of the times when I've heard people express their scorn for reading in general or their disdain for reading in particular. They should make a sandwich out of two slices of whole wheat bread and a print out of the above quotation, ram it up their ass and hope that osmosis occurs.
2 comments:
She touches my heart, and puts a voice to my feelings about books. One of my favorite quotes is in a similar vein:
"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." ~Charles W. Eliot
Sister K
p.s. I am going to print out your post and serve it up as directed to my friend who boasts that he has not read a book since high school.
Yes--at least that may suggest that there is another side to the story. Thanks for the great Eliot quote, Sister K!
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