The Joy of Re-reading

Val McDermott, Scottish crime writer, shared her Culture Fix in The Times recently. She said, her favourite book is Treasure Island, first read aged nine and re-read most years since. Another Scottish writer, Ian Rankin regularly re-reads The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. He finds “fresh pleasures in its artfulness, its blending of comedy and tragedy, and the complexity of characterization.” Historian Simon Schama calls himself a War & Peace-nik because of his obsession with this epic novel. He was nagged into reading it by a Cambridge friend and was about 100 pages in, reading in a café, when he was interrupted by an elderly, military-looking man: “Excuse me young man, but I see you are setting off on the Long March. Would this, by any chance, be your First Time?” “Indeed it would”, Schama replied.  “Ah, so fortunate to have all that ahead of you.” his eyes shining with the benevolence of a gratified apostle. “Do you know, I myself will be setting off for the 12th time this summer?” Schama said he could hardly believe anyone would read W&P that many times but now he can, having read all 1100 pages eight times himself.”

A daughter, visiting us over Christmas, picked up my copy of W&P and started to read it. I hope she finds time in her busy life to journey on and immerse herself in this great book because at the end she will have had one of the richest reading experiences to be had in all of world literature.

There’s great satisfaction in curling up on the sofa to re-read a well-loved book, knowing that hours of enjoyment lie in store. C. S Lewis said, “I can't imagine anyone really enjoying a book and reading it only once.” So, for me this year will certainly involve re-reading some of my favourite books.  Perhaps a Brother Cadfael story by Ellis Peters or How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewelyn, or my favourite contemporary novel, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - already re-read 3 times.

Over Christmas I re-read a classic, Middlemarch by George Eliot, regarded by many as one of the greatest English novels, and which the poet Emily Dickinson referred to in a letter: "What do I think of Middlemarch? What do I think of glory – except that in a few instances 'this mortal [George Eliot] has already put on immortality'.". When I first read Middlemarch, four years ago it took some getting into. Victorian prose, with its longer more convoluted sentences can’t be rushed and the various characters and plot lines only gradually make their appearance. But once I’d tuned in to the style and slower pace, I read it with increasing pleasure. When it was chosen as our book group’s January read, I was glad of the chance of a re-read. This second time through I have been struck by how timeless the situations and relationships are that George Eliot describes, how supremely intelligent she is and how skillfully she creates character and dialogue. All human life is there, just as supposedly, it once was found in the pages of the News of The World. Here is George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) standing up for her sex - Mary Garth in conversation with her mother:

“And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.” and, “I wonder if any other girl thinks her father the best man in the world!” “Nonsense, child; you’ll think your husband better.” “Impossible,” said Mary, relapsing into her usual tone; “husbands are an inferior class of men, who require keeping in order.” 

Something that Rosemond Vincy does with consummate ease to the despair of her husband, Dr Lydgate.

Books like Middlemarch are called classics for a reason. They have stood the test of time and speak to each new generation of readers across the world. The Italian author, Italo Calvino listed 14 definitions of a classic including: “A classic is a book which has never exhausted all it has to say to its readers” and “Classics are those books about which you usually hear people saying: 'I'm rereading...', never 'I'm reading....” But he also included this definition: 'Your classic is a book to which you cannot remain indifferent, and which helps you define yourself in relation or even in opposition to it.” By this definition, one of my personal classics is Angels and Men by Catherine Fox which I re-read over Christmas for the sixth time. It’s a novel that deals with both the search for faith and its rejection and always scratches where I itch.

C S Lewis again:  “It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”. So, this year I shall mix the old with the new, not only re-reading favourite books but also exploring the classics, both old and modern, and prompted by Val McDermott what better place to start than with my 1947 New York edition of Treasure Island.  Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!