Kelly Wholigan™
New member
Roth considered the future of literature and its place in society, stating his belief in 2009 that within 25 years the reading of novels will be regarded as a "cultic" activity:
"I was being optimistic about 25 years really. I think it's going to be cultic. I think always people will be reading them but it will be a small group of people. Maybe more people than now read Latin poetry, but somewhere in that range... To read a novel requires a certain amount of concentration, focus, devotion to the reading. If you read a novel in more than two weeks you don't read the novel really. So I think that kind of concentration and focus and attentiveness is hard to come by — it's hard to find huge numbers of people, large numbers of people, significant numbers of people, who have those qualities."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#Career
Do you see reading as a cultic activity? I think he's right, but want to know your take. Thank you.
"I was being optimistic about 25 years really. I think it's going to be cultic. I think always people will be reading them but it will be a small group of people. Maybe more people than now read Latin poetry, but somewhere in that range... To read a novel requires a certain amount of concentration, focus, devotion to the reading. If you read a novel in more than two weeks you don't read the novel really. So I think that kind of concentration and focus and attentiveness is hard to come by — it's hard to find huge numbers of people, large numbers of people, significant numbers of people, who have those qualities."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#Career
Do you see reading as a cultic activity? I think he's right, but want to know your take. Thank you.