Maris Kreizman on the Need For Literary Friction
More than two years ago I wrote an angry piece about how lame the bulletpointization of books is: the point of reading and engaging with books is not so the reader can consume little bullet points of knowledge.Article continues after advertisement
But since then technofascism has gained so much traction that art and being challenged by art has been completely devalued. Last week the publisher of Axios, Nicholas Johnson, published a post about how AI became his “reading buddy,” helping him to elucidate themes and “make sense of wordy, old prose.” In other words Johnson is bragging about outsourcing the act of trying while reading.
In our convenience-obsessed world it’s more important than ever to celebrate the existence of literary friction, the kind of writing that doesn’t go down in one easy gulp, that makes you sit in your uncertainty or even discomfort. This kind of contemplation is a big part of how you grow as a reader and a thinker. And yeah, I think that certain reading experiences should allow people to grow.
There’s nothing wrong with quick and easy reads that are meant to be consumed for sheer pleasure. I would never knock a good page-turner. But that’s only one kind of reading.
