"One of the things we feel after reading a great work is 'I have got out'. In the moral sphere, every act of justice or charity involves putting ourselves in the other person's place and thus transcending our own competitive particularity. In love, in virtue, in the pursuit of knowledge, and in the reception of the arts, we are doing this. Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realize the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors. Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality." *
- C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
*all quotes are from the same section of the book, but I rearranged them
Interesting. I like CS Lewis's writing; I don't know this book at all.
ReplyDeleteClare, it's a very short book on how to be a good reader. I'd been listening to a podcast about it. I have read almost nothing by him - never read the Narnia chronicles! (yet)
DeleteI love this. I don't know if I ever finished reading that book, but I have always wanted to ;-)
ReplyDeleteOoooh!
ReplyDeleteThis is just awesome to think about.
ReplyDelete