One thing about me that has annoyed Mr. Scobie since we first met is my willingness to form an opinion about something before I have ever read or seen it. I made it through college by learning about many books in the following fashion:
1. Develop a theory about a book based on its cover, back cover, first chapter or overheard conversation in the "C" Shop.
Note: I also read whole books, but since the UofC is a Great Books school, many of those books were totally opaque and impossible (for me) to comprehend. Thus my opinion of the book or author is still based on this applied technique.
2. Confidently extol this theory to Mr. Scob (after the first week of college he was the only one who had the patience to endure my "theories").
3. Have "theory" eviscerated by listener, who cites the actual content of said book or movie as "evidence" that I am mistaken.
4. Revise "theory" based on new "evidence" and test on new listener.
5. Repeat 3 - 5.
By the time an exam rolled around, I'd have a firm grasp of the subject matter. The downside, of course, is that while I may now remark that something is "Aristotelean" or "Kantian" or "straight out of Kierkegaard", I'm in the right universe but I can't get more specific than that.
This tendency of mine is a time saver, money saver, and a shield to struggling with anything that might be intellectually or emotionally challenging. For example, in 1996, a bunch of kids wanted to see Crash, the creepy Cronenberg movie, which was basically a snuff movie. I refused to go see it on the basis that the movie would be sensational, violent and upsetting to me. B confronted me with the fact that I knew nothing more than what had been written in the NY Times about it. I said, "I don't need to see a movie to have an opinion about it." I have, to the annoyance of many, stood by that proposition (and likely will forever).
B saw the movie, hated it and has declined to confront me so directly about my cultural . . . prejudices? foresight? since that time.
Why am I going on about this? Because it turns out that instead of seeing this an annoying quirk of my personality, he should have recognized it as a money making opportunity! There is a new book out called How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read, which I DID NOT WRITE, to my consternation. (Here's a review)
Worse, I don't even have an opinion of this book yet.
3 comments:
Don't forget that you (and I) did this with music as well. I'm pretty sure that our "witty" radio show banter frequently included snarky comments about bands we had never heard.
-Ella
This book is yet another thing you know about through the NY Times. Also it is about SKIMMING the material not NOT READING it.
That said, I cannot remember anything I read or even saw on television during college, it's like I didn't even go.
xo
kmlc
p.s. Crash is not a snuff film.
Which teacher at St. E's praised you for your ability to write entire test essays on books you had not read? Mrs Sullivan? I remember once that we were both assigned to read Gorillas in the Mist. I read it, you did not and somehow you knew more about than I did.
Also, I watched Crash in a theory class in grad school and it was one of the more painful experiences of my life. I'd really prefer to have not seen that movie. Good call on your part.
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