“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read”, wrote Mark Twain. People who do not read are as illiterate as those who cannot read and write, even though statistically our literacy rate is over 95%. The man who can read but does not, still considers himself superior to someone who cannot read. That is Illiterate Chauvinism, which we find during the month of September. When we see all the publicity given in social media, and announcements of book launches, the images posted on social media of books purchased at book fairs, and at the same time the wailing of book publishers about the declining sales of books, it appears as if there are more writers than readers in Sri Lanka.
As opposed to the above, some suffer from bibliophobia, who really are afraid of books or hate books. They are the people who burn down libraries, as they did at Alexandria (300 BCE), Nalanda (1193) Jaffna (1981). They are also the people who try to censor, or prosecute writers, often without reading the book. We also have pseudo-bibliophiles, who pretend they love books, throw names of great writers and their books in conversation, even buy books, and borrow books from friends, never to be returned. Our real concern has to be about reading books, about encouraging young people to read, and read and continue to read.
There are many reasons given for the decline of the reading habit among the young.
Television is one of the major culprits. People in the USA called it the ‘Idiot Box’ just a few years after it invaded their homes because they knew it was turning them into idiots. Television has turned our sitting room or TV room into the cave described by Plato. We are in chains, watching the unreality and refusing to leave. Yet, even in Plato’s cave, if we had a very interesting, absorbing book in our hands, we would simply ignore the shadow play. A good writer can still drag people away from the idiot box.
People do not read the newspapers, because they can listen to news broadcasts and the newspaper summaries on TV. Yet we could never learn all the news in a broadcast of a few minutes. We never get an opportunity to learn all that is in a newspaper from the summing up by a TV presenter. Those who watch or listen to summing ups miss the editorials, op-ed pages, feature articles. If people listen to them or watch them because they cannot manage their time to read the papers, then the newspaper could offer an audio version, to be listened to on the car radio or the mobile phone.
High cost of books
The high cost of books is also discouraging people from buying books. One reason for the high cost is that our publishers do not believe in economies of scale. Even though the book is a commodity, it is not promoted, properly marketed or distributed. In a country where over 19 million people are literate, our publishers are not prepared to print even 1,000 copies. Another reason is that many of our books are too voluminous, thus with price tags of over four figures. With proper editing sometimes some novels could be reduced to half their length which would also increase the quality of the story. In most collections, there are many poems and short stories that should not have been included. When people purchase such books at very high prices, they get discouraged from buying any more. However, for any person who really wants to read, there are more than enough books available online, many of them for free, or at very low prices, without violation of copyright. There are libraries all over the country, and some international libraries also lend books for limited periods. The e-book phobia is a myth we have created ourselves. If people could watch films on their TV, or even on their mobile phone, if they can watch stage plays or enjoy a musical show in video format, they can easily adapt themselves to read e-books. E-books save money, save storage space needed for printed books, and also contribute to saving more trees, which are cut down to make paper to print books. We can read an e-book on our desktop, laptop, tablet and even on the mobile phone.
Today, we can carry an entire library in our pocket, to be read anytime, anywhere. It is also encouraging that several publishers are now offering e-books through their apps. A negative point about e-books, however, is that today anyone can publish anything they write, and the cyberspace is flooded with so much trash. But we can always sift the grain from the chaff at no cost.
The quality of creative works also does not encourage people to read. It is observed every year when we see the long lists and even the shortlists of books picked for literary awards. If some of these listed books are the best books of the previous year, then it shows how pathetically inferior our creative writing has become. If they are not the best books published, then the evaluation criteria of the judges are to be questioned, especially if they have really read all the books from cover to cover. When people purchase “award-winning or shortlisted” books and find some of them to be very disappointing, they will not even think of buying the other books that did not get shortlisted, believing they are much worse.
One reason for the poor quality of our writing is because some writers today may not be reading what others write. If all the poets in our country purchased a copy each of all the poetry books coming out today, selling a few thousand copies within a few months would be a simple task.
Reading habit
Many people also complain that they cannot find the time to read. Most of these people travel by bus or train, where they could find enough time to read if they are fortunate to get a seat. Others travel by vans or cars driven by another, where the time could be ideal for reading. Sometimes we wait for hours in public institutions to meet a person or get something attended to. Most such institutions have seating facilities in the waiting areas. At home, if the idiot box could be turned off, there is more than enough time available for reading.
The revival of the reading habit has to begin at home. We could encourage children to read by example. When the parents and elders read books, children too would get into the habit. Gift them books for their birthdays, instead of toys and clothes and other non-essential items. If each child gifts a book to the classroom on their birthdays instead of cakes and chocolates, they could build a class library, which could be later added to the school library.
If there is a will, there is a way. Let us all cultivate the one habit among us that is safe to get addicted to. Let us trash the excuses and become bookaholics or bibliophiles, now that the month of reading is upon us.
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