How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read Read Online Free
Author: Pierre Bayard
Tags: Ebook, book
speaking to his friend Ulrich.
3 . Ibid., pp. 500–501.
4 . Ibid., p. 503.
5 . Ibid.
6 . Ibid., p. 502.
7 . HB++.
8 . SB and HB++.
VI
Encounters with Professors
(in which we confirm, along with the Tiv tribe of western Africa, that it is wholly unnecessary to have opened a book in order to deliver an enlightened opinion on it, even if you displease the specialists in the process)
A S A TEACHER, it is my lot more often than average to find myself obligated to speak to a large audience about books I haven’t read, either in the strict sense (having never opened them) or the attenuated sense (having only skimmed them or forgotten them). I am not sure I have dealt with the situation any better than Rollo Martins. But I have often attempted to reassure myself with the thought that those who are listening to me are no doubt on similar ground and are probably no more confident about it than I am.
I have observed over the years that this situation in no way unsettles my students, who often comment about books they haven’t read in ways that are not only relevant, but indeed quite accurate, by relying on elements of the text that I have, involuntarily or not, conveyed to them. To avoid embarrassing anyone in my place of employment, I shall choose an example that is geographically remote, to be sure, but close to our subject: that of the Tiv tribe of West Africa.
If the Tiv are not comparable to students in general, a group of them did find themselves in such a position when an anthropologist named Laura Bohannan undertook to acquaint them with that classic entry in the English theatrical canon Hamlet , 1 which they had never heard of.
The choice of Shakespeare’s play was not entirely disinterested. In response to a British colleague who suspected that Americans did not understand Shakespeare, Laura Bohannan, who is American, had countered that human nature is the same everywhere; he challenged her to prove it. Thus she left for Africa with a copy of Hamlet in her luggage, in the hope of demonstrating that human beings are fundamentally the same across cultural differences.
Welcomed by the tribe, with whom she had stayed once before, Laura Bohannan set up camp within the territory of a knowledgeable elder, who presided over some 140 people all more or less related to him. The anthropologist had hoped to be able to discuss the meaning of their ceremonies with her hosts, but most of their time was taken up with drinking beer. Isolated in her hut, she devoted herself to reading Shakespeare’s play and eventually came up with an interpretation that seemed to her to be universal.
But the Tiv noticed that Laura Bohannan was spending a great deal of time reading the same text and, intrigued, suggested that she recount to them this story that seemed to fascinate her so much. They asked her to supply them with the necessary explanations as she went along and promised to be indulgent about her linguistic errors. She was thus given an ideal opportunity to verify her hypothesis and prove the universality of Shakespeare’s play.
It is not long before problems arise. In describing the beginning of the play, Bohannan tries to explain how, one night, three men standing guard outside a chief ’s compound suddenly see the dead chief approaching them. This is the first source of disagreement, because for the Tiv, there is no way the shape perceived by the men can be the dead leader:
“Why was he no longer their chief?”
“He was dead,” I explained. “That is why they were troubled and afraid when they saw him.”
“Impossible,” began one of the elders, handing his pipe on to his neighbor, who interrupted, “Of course it wasn’t the dead chief. It was an omen sent by a witch. Go on.” 2
Shaken by the self-assurance of her interlocutors, Bohannan nonetheless continues her tale and recounts how Horatio addresses Hamlet the elder to ask him what must be done to give him peace, and how, when the deceased fails to
3 . Ibid., pp. 500–501.
4 . Ibid., p. 503.
5 . Ibid.
6 . Ibid., p. 502.
7 . HB++.
8 . SB and HB++.
VI
Encounters with Professors
(in which we confirm, along with the Tiv tribe of western Africa, that it is wholly unnecessary to have opened a book in order to deliver an enlightened opinion on it, even if you displease the specialists in the process)
A S A TEACHER, it is my lot more often than average to find myself obligated to speak to a large audience about books I haven’t read, either in the strict sense (having never opened them) or the attenuated sense (having only skimmed them or forgotten them). I am not sure I have dealt with the situation any better than Rollo Martins. But I have often attempted to reassure myself with the thought that those who are listening to me are no doubt on similar ground and are probably no more confident about it than I am.
I have observed over the years that this situation in no way unsettles my students, who often comment about books they haven’t read in ways that are not only relevant, but indeed quite accurate, by relying on elements of the text that I have, involuntarily or not, conveyed to them. To avoid embarrassing anyone in my place of employment, I shall choose an example that is geographically remote, to be sure, but close to our subject: that of the Tiv tribe of West Africa.
If the Tiv are not comparable to students in general, a group of them did find themselves in such a position when an anthropologist named Laura Bohannan undertook to acquaint them with that classic entry in the English theatrical canon Hamlet , 1 which they had never heard of.
The choice of Shakespeare’s play was not entirely disinterested. In response to a British colleague who suspected that Americans did not understand Shakespeare, Laura Bohannan, who is American, had countered that human nature is the same everywhere; he challenged her to prove it. Thus she left for Africa with a copy of Hamlet in her luggage, in the hope of demonstrating that human beings are fundamentally the same across cultural differences.
Welcomed by the tribe, with whom she had stayed once before, Laura Bohannan set up camp within the territory of a knowledgeable elder, who presided over some 140 people all more or less related to him. The anthropologist had hoped to be able to discuss the meaning of their ceremonies with her hosts, but most of their time was taken up with drinking beer. Isolated in her hut, she devoted herself to reading Shakespeare’s play and eventually came up with an interpretation that seemed to her to be universal.
But the Tiv noticed that Laura Bohannan was spending a great deal of time reading the same text and, intrigued, suggested that she recount to them this story that seemed to fascinate her so much. They asked her to supply them with the necessary explanations as she went along and promised to be indulgent about her linguistic errors. She was thus given an ideal opportunity to verify her hypothesis and prove the universality of Shakespeare’s play.
It is not long before problems arise. In describing the beginning of the play, Bohannan tries to explain how, one night, three men standing guard outside a chief ’s compound suddenly see the dead chief approaching them. This is the first source of disagreement, because for the Tiv, there is no way the shape perceived by the men can be the dead leader:
“Why was he no longer their chief?”
“He was dead,” I explained. “That is why they were troubled and afraid when they saw him.”
“Impossible,” began one of the elders, handing his pipe on to his neighbor, who interrupted, “Of course it wasn’t the dead chief. It was an omen sent by a witch. Go on.” 2
Shaken by the self-assurance of her interlocutors, Bohannan nonetheless continues her tale and recounts how Horatio addresses Hamlet the elder to ask him what must be done to give him peace, and how, when the deceased fails to
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