Of course, there are many ways to self-educate. And I am well aware of the widespread academic and political aversion to all things classical. Yet I cannot pick up the writing of Maya Angelou without seeing influences of Walt Whitman, or of James Baldwin without Henry James, or of Toni Morrison without William Faulkner, or of Cornel West without Plato, or of August Wilson without William Shakespeare. Incidentally, I believe that Angelou, Baldwin, Morrison, West, and Wilson too deserve a prominent and secure place in classic literature. Yet I hold this conviction about the value literary ancestry in the same way I remain convinced that rock and roll has its roots in jazz. Reading almost any book is a good thing, but the act itself evolves into a great thing when understanding the relevant works preceding it and the authors who inspired the writer.
You would agree with this mindset if you read to your benefit Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren's classic How to Read a Book, which I reviewed on this blog nine years ago. As a refresher to this, well, classic, you might also want to read Susan Wise Bauer's The Well-Educated Mind. Bauer affirms Adler's premises about active reading as an indispensable means of self-education, and she extends his assertions by encouraging journaling about your reading experience to uncover authors' ideas and intentions and to document your own emotional and intellectual reactions to them. Her systematic approach to this practice is useful for other activities, such as studying for exams, researching for a book you wish to write, or mastering any intellectual discipline.
Like Adler, she reserves chapters for studying different genres, including novels, memoir, history, drama, and poetry. After suggesting a practical and challenging reading technique—all worthwhile accomplishments come from diligence—Bauer uses the final three-fourths of the book covering classics through her own journaling experience. Scores of authors from Herodotus to Langston Hughes, and great works from the King James Bible to Seamus Heaney's Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966 - 1996, find their way into the discussion.
In laying down a reading list for a lifetime, Bauer also offers a practical way to tackle the material: Don't worry about not understanding everything you're reading the first time; serious reading takes multiple passes through the narrative. Ask specific questions while reading, from a basic What does this writer want me to know or believe? to a deeper Have I experienced what the writer wants me to experience? Still more rewarding, share your observations and assessments with a reading partner.
You'll get the tips you need to start on this worthwhile endeavor of self-education through the classics, which will make you a more critical reader of all topics that fit your fancy. And you'll thank Susan Wise Bauer for the roadmap.
