Karen Swallow Prior, On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (aff). Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2018. 267 pages.
I read this book as a member of my famed family book club with my adult children and cousin. I encourage you to consider establishing a reading club of your own. Among the six members of our club, there are 4 PhDs, 8 master’s degrees, and 6 bachelor’s degrees represented. We have delved into the deep end of intellectual discussion! My son Daniel, who happens to have degrees in English and a Ph.D. in cultural studies, suggested this book. I was glad he did.
Karen Swallow Prior is an award-winning English professor who taught at Liberty University and currently teaches at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In this book, she draws out lessons in virtue from great literature. I found several aspects of this approach helpful. First, she gives great tips on reading literature effectively. Second, she teaches readers how to interact with the truths in literature. Finally, she addresses many ethical issues related to virtue.
In the book Prior addresses the “Cardinal Virtues” of prudence, temperance, justice, and courage; the “Theological Virtues” of faith, hope, and love; and the “Heavenly Virtues” of chastity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. In each chapter she uses a classic story or novel to illustrate her point. I found that she not only presents an interesting ethical discussion but also whetted my appetite to read the books she discusses.
Prior quotes Oscar Wilde, who claimed, “There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all” (10). She posits, “. . . by reading widely, voraciously, and indiscriminately I learned spiritual lessons I never learned in Church or Sunday School, as well as emotional and intellectual lessons that I would never have encountered within the realm of my lived experience” (14). The beauty of reading is that it puts you in situations you might never otherwise experience and enables you to face issues you would not normally encounter.
Prior notes that “Reading virtuously means, first, reading closely, being faithful to both text and context, interpreting accurately and insightfully” (15). She adds, “The skills of interpretation and evaluation require prudence. The skills required to read well are no great mystery. Reading well is, well, simple (if not easy). It just takes time and attention” (16). For those who find reading difficult, she offers this advice: “Practice makes perfect, but pleasure makes practice more likely, so read something enjoyable. If a book is so agonizing that you avoid reading it, put it down and pick up one that brings you pleasure. Life is too short and books are too plentiful not to” (16). She urges readers to choose books that challenge them (17). She also notes that the slowest readers are often the best ones (17). She encourages people to read with a pen, pencil, and highlighters in hand (17). She suggests that reading benefits our life in the way a good friend does (18).
Prior suggests that all literature, most obviously stories, involve conflict, rupture, or both. She concludes, “Literature is birthed from our fallenness” (26). She quotes Martha Nussbaum, who said, “We have never lived enough. Our experience is, without fiction, too confined and too parochial. Literature extends it, making us reflect and feel about what might otherwise be too distant for feeling . . . all living is interpreting; all action requires seeing the world as something” (28). Prior notes that “Great books offer perspectives more than lessons” (28).
Prior then addresses various virtues by drawing on famous works of literature. Though familiarity with the stories she cites is helpful, it is not necessary. She describes prudence as wisdom in practice and argues that it measures the other virtues (34). She notes that Milton distinguished between people who were virtuous and those who were merely innocent (45). She also states that “perfectionism” is the “foil” of prudence (46).
Of temperance, she notes that “One can attain the virtue of temperance when one’s appetites have been shaped such that one’s desires are in proper order and proportion” (53). She makes the interesting observation that the USA has 3.1% of all the world’s children but 40% of all the world’s toys (58).
Prior uses A Tale of Two Cities to discuss justice. She quotes Thomas Aquinas, who said that any law that uplifts human personality is just (74). She differentiates between being just and being fair (81). She observes that “. . . there is not one way of achieving justice any more than there is one way of being beautiful” (84).
Prior includes an interesting discussion of “courage” using Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. She states that courage involves putting a greater good before a lesser good (89). She notes that “A brave act must be for a noble end in order to constitute the virtue of courage” (93). Certainly, to be considered a virtue it must, although people have demonstrated courage for less noble causes.
Prior discusses faith as well, noting that “A faith that never feels challenged is most likely dead” (106). She also suggests that it may be a false dichotomy to see faith only in terms of victory or failure (115).
She argues that hope must be bounded by magnanimity and humility (130). She purports that compassion is more than empathy (149).
Prior makes an interesting distinction between diligence and perseverance. She argues that perseverance is the what, whereas diligence is the how (182). She also notes that all language is, in a sense, metaphorical (189).
Concerning kindness, Prior states that it cannot be separated from truth (209). She also claims that kindness makes us vulnerable (217).
Overall, I found this book to be quite interesting. I certainly appreciate her use of literature and word studies to make her points about virtue.
I recommend this book. It will make you think. It will also make you want to read more!
Rating: 3
