The Lost Art of Reading

by Gerald Stanley Lee

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

To
JENNETTE LEE

Contents

• [BOOK I] PAGE
  [INTERFERENCES WITH THE READING HABIT] [1]
  • [CIVILISATION] [3]
    • [Dust] [3]
    • [Dust] [5]
    • [Dust to Dust] [8]
    • [Ashes] [12]
    • [The Literary Rush] [15]
    • [Parenthesis—To the Gentle Reader] [24]
    • [More Parenthesis—But More to the Point] [28]
    • [More Literary Rush] [34]
    • [The Bugbear of Being Well Informed—A Practical Suggestion] [41]
    • [The Dead Level of Intelligence] [48]
    • [The Art of Reading as One Likes] [58]
  • [THE DISGRACE OF THE IMAGINATION] [67]
    • [On Wondering Why One Was Born] [67]
    • [The Top of the Bureau Principle] [74]
  • [THE UNPOPULARITY OF THE FIRST PERSON SINGULAR] [82]
    • [The First Person a Necessary Evil] [82]
    • [The Art of Being Anonymous] [89]
    • [Egoism and Society] [96]
    • [i + I = We] [99]
    • [The Autobiography of Beauty] [104]
  • [THE HABIT OF NOT LETTING ONE’S SELF GO] [109]
    • [The Country Boy in Literature] [109]
    • [The Subconscious Self] [115]
    • [The Organic Principle of Inspiration] [120]
  • [THE HABIT OF ANALYSIS] [125]
    • [If Shakespeare Came to Chicago] [125]
    • [Analysis Analysed] [136]
  • [LITERARY DRILL IN COLLEGE] [144]
    • [Seeds and Blossoms] [144]
    • [Private Road: Dangerous] [150]
    • [The Organs of Literature] [159]
    • [Entrance Examinations in Joy] [164]
    • [Natural Selection in Theory] [171]
    • [Natural Selection in Practice] [175]
    • [The Emancipation of the Teacher] [182]
    • [The Test of Culture] [186]
    • [Summary] [188]
    • [A Note] [194]
  • [LIBRARIES. WANTED: AN OLD-FASHIONED LIBRARIAN] [196]
    • [viz.] [196]
    • [cf.] [199]
    • [et al.] [202]
    • [etc.] [205]
    • [O] [212]
• [BOOK II
  POSSIBILITIES] [217]
  • • [The Issue] [219]
    • [The First Selection] [222]
    • [Conveniences] [223]
    • [The Charter of Possibility] [230]
    • [The Great Game] [233]
    • [Outward Bound] [239]
• [BOOK III
  DETAILS. THE CONFESSIONS OF AN UNSCIENTIFIC MIND] [247]
  • [UNSCIENTIFIC] [249]
    • [On Being Intelligent in a Library] [249]
    • [How It Feels] [253]
    • [How a Specialist Can Be an Educated Man] [254]
    • [On Reading Books Through their Backs] [258]
    • [On Keeping Each Other in Countenance] [261]
    • [The Romance of Science] [264]
    • [Monads] [267]
    • [Multiplication Tables] [277]
  • [READING FOR PRINCIPLES] [279]
    • [On Changing One’s Conscience] [279]
    • [On the Intolerance of Experienced People] [282]
    • [On Having One’s Experience Done Out] [285]
    • [On Reading a Newspaper in Ten Minutes] [289]
    • [General Information] [291]
    • [But——] [299]
  • [READING DOWN THROUGH] [307]
    • [Inside] [307]
    • [On Being Lonely with a Book] [308]
    • [Keeping Other Minds Off] [311]
    • [Reading Backwards] [313]
  • [READING FOR FACTS] [319]
    • [Calling the Meeting to Order] [319]
    • [Symbolic Facts] [323]
    • [Duplicates: A Principle of Economy] [325]
  • [READING FOR RESULTS] [329]
    • [The Blank Paper Frame of Mind] [329]
    • [The Usefully Unfinished] [334]
    • [Athletics] [340]
  • [READING FOR FEELINGS] [347]
    • [The Passion of Truth] [347]
    • [The Topical Point of View] [352]
  • [READING THE WORLD TOGETHER] [359]
    • [Focusing] [359]
    • [The Human Unit] [364]
    • [The Higher Cannibalism] [367]
    • [Spiritual Thrift] [378]
    • [The City, the Church, and the College] [384]
    • [The Outsiders] [389]
    • [Reading the World Together] [397]
• [BOOK IV
  WHAT TO DO NEXT] [403]
  • • [See Next Chapter] [405]
    • [Diagnosis] [410]
    • [Eclipse] [412]
    • [Apocalypse] [419]
    • [Every Man His Own Genius] [426]
    • [An Inclined Plane] [430]
    • [Allons] [435]

Book I
Interferences with the Reading Habit