Reading and the Decline of America

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"In an age where there's no canon, where there are so many other forms of information, and where we're returning to medieval-like oral culture based on television," he said, "I think that's pretty impressive, quite frankly." Mr. Starr continued: "We should be alarmed, I suppose, but the horse has long since run out of the barn. There are two distinct cultures that have evolved, and by far the smaller is the one that's tied up with book and high culture. You can get through American life and be very successful without anybody ever asking you whether Shylock is an anti-Semitic character or whether `Death in Venice' is better than `The Magic Mountain.' "

-- Bruce Weber for The NY Times

This is an excerpt from another article highlighting the decline of American culture. This one is based on a new authoritative survey called "Reading at Risk." Mr. Starr is the optimistic one in the article. It is noted that this falling off of reading holds across the culture. Weber quotes Mr. Dana Gioia:

"It quantifies what people have been observing anecdotally, but the news is that it has been happening more rapidly and more pervasively than anyone thought possible. Reading is in decline among all groups, in every region, at every educational level and within every ethnic group," he said, calling the survey results "deeply alarming."

The article closes on an especially depressing note:

"The one category of book to rise markedly was that of religious texts, with total sales of $337.9 million, 36.8 percent over the previous year."

Medieval indeed...
.

Reading and the Decline of America

~
"In an age where there's no canon, where there are so many other forms of information, and where we're returning to medieval-like oral culture based on television," he said, "I think that's pretty impressive, quite frankly." Mr. Starr continued: "We should be alarmed, I suppose, but the horse has long since run out of the barn. There are two distinct cultures that have evolved, and by far the smaller is the one that's tied up with book and high culture. You can get through American life and be very successful without anybody ever asking you whether Shylock is an anti-Semitic character or whether `Death in Venice' is better than `The Magic Mountain.' "

-- Bruce Weber for The NY Times

This is an excerpt from another article highlighting the decline of American culture. This one is based on a new authoritative survey called "Reading at Risk." Mr. Starr is the optimistic one in the article. It is noted that this falling off of reading holds across the culture. Weber quotes Mr. Dana Gioia:

"It quantifies what people have been observing anecdotally, but the news is that it has been happening more rapidly and more pervasively than anyone thought possible. Reading is in decline among all groups, in every region, at every educational level and within every ethnic group," he said, calling the survey results "deeply alarming."

The article closes on an especially depressing note:

"The one category of book to rise markedly was that of religious texts, with total sales of $337.9 million, 36.8 percent over the previous year."

Medieval indeed...
.