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Published: Sept. 24, 2019, 5 a.m.

This week kicks off our fall series, \u201cHow to Read a Novel\u201d, starting with C. S. Lewis\u2019 An Experiment in Criticism. Next, we will dive into Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, applying the principles we have learned as we read.

Angelina and Cindy discuss Lewis\u2019 approach to literature and the point of this book being a critique more of readers than of books. Some main ideas they bring out of the first chapter are the importance of rereading, the fact that real readers will carve out time for books, how books have the power to change us, and the way readers can\u2019t help but talk about books. Cindy highlights the connection between Lewis critique of the literati and Mr. Bons in \u201cThe Celestial Omnibus.\u201d Angelina talks about the challenge of keeping the love of literature for those whose profession it is to teach it, especially in the modern American university culture.

Our hosts discuss the idea of reading to improve oneself as opposed to submitting to the experience of reading a challenging book. Angelina makes the point that it is about motive and whether or not you are trying to control the outcome. The benefits are the byproducts. From chapter 3, Angelina and Cindy contemplate how we approach art and the need to get ourselves out of the way so that we can enter the work of art. Finally, they cover the five characteristics of the unliterary reader according to Lewis.

The Man He Killed

by Thomas Hardy

\u201cHad he and I but met
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Right many a nipperkin!

\u201cBut ranged as infantry,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0And killed him in his place.

\u201cI shot him dead because \u2014
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0That\u2019s clear enough; although

\u201cHe thought he\u2019d \u2018list, perhaps,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Off-hand like \u2014 just as I \u2014
Was out of work \u2014 had sold his traps \u2014
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0No other reason why.

\u201cYes; quaint and curious war is!
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0You shoot a fellow down
You\u2019d treat if met where any bar is,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Or help to half-a-crown.\u201d

Book List:

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Phantastes by George MacDonald

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O\u2019Connor

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