Subject
Re: teen readers (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Donald Harington <dharingt@comp.uark.edu>
Quite obviously Nance missed the whole point of Mr Williams' remark. The
best way to get a teenager to do something is to prohibit it (smoking,
sex, drugs, dirty books, whatever). The best way to *guarantee* that a
teenager will read Nabokov is to forbid it.
> From: NanceSea@aol.com
>
> Mr Williams posted:
> If I had a teenager I wanted to read Nabokov, I think I'd say something to
> the effect of: "No. You're too young to be reading Nabokov."
>
> As someone, and I am sure not the only someone in this group, who as a teen
> was reading books "far beyond my years" I am offended by the ageist and
> puritanical attitude of this remark. Being chronologically challenged does
> not necessarily imply a lack of comprehension and maturity far beyond many
> people of greater years. I think encouraging bright and intellectually
> curious youth to expand their horizons and discover new writers and thought
> is the responsibility of all, whether they be academics or just parents,
> relatives or friends.
>
>
> Nance Morris
> NanceSea@aol.com
>
Quite obviously Nance missed the whole point of Mr Williams' remark. The
best way to get a teenager to do something is to prohibit it (smoking,
sex, drugs, dirty books, whatever). The best way to *guarantee* that a
teenager will read Nabokov is to forbid it.
> From: NanceSea@aol.com
>
> Mr Williams posted:
> If I had a teenager I wanted to read Nabokov, I think I'd say something to
> the effect of: "No. You're too young to be reading Nabokov."
>
> As someone, and I am sure not the only someone in this group, who as a teen
> was reading books "far beyond my years" I am offended by the ageist and
> puritanical attitude of this remark. Being chronologically challenged does
> not necessarily imply a lack of comprehension and maturity far beyond many
> people of greater years. I think encouraging bright and intellectually
> curious youth to expand their horizons and discover new writers and thought
> is the responsibility of all, whether they be academics or just parents,
> relatives or friends.
>
>
> Nance Morris
> NanceSea@aol.com
>