What does it mean to be well read?

[illusionary]

I was thinking about what it means when I consider someone well read and was wondering what others thought.

1. What particular books, cultures, and time periods do you think must be delved into to be well read?

2. Does one have to have knowledge of several cultures and time periods or is a extensive knowledge in one or two areas enough?

3. Can reading something of low artistic merit contribute to being well read?

4. Are well read people more intelligent than the general population? If so, is that innate or gathered along the way?

5. Are you well read? If not, do you think you ever will be?

Feel free to post any thoughts vaguely related to this topic; the questions are just there as a jumping off point.

[PeterL]

I was thinking about what it means when I consider someone well read and was wondering what others thought.

1. What particular books, cultures, and time periods do you think must be delved into to be well read?

2. Does one have to have knowledge of several cultures and time periods or is a extensive knowledge in one or two areas enough?

To be well-read, one must have a fair understanding of many books, cultures, and periods. Beinfg well-read means that someone is ocnversant in most realms of human activity, and conversant means that one can have an intelligent conversation about a given subject with an expert in that subject.


3. Can reading something of low artistic merit contribute to being well read?

Of course it would. When one is truly well-read one has some familiarity with all kinds of things, including mechanical arts and low and criminal activities.


4. Are well read people more intelligent than the general population? If so, is that innate or gathered along the way?

There is a tendency for people of high intelligence to be well-read, but high intelligence is not necessary for being well-read, but it helps a lot.


5. Are you well read? If not, do you think you ever will be?


I am fairly well-read; although I have gone out of my way to avoid some of the classics. I am conversant in a wide variety of fields other than literature.

[stlukesguild]

1. What particular books, cultures, and time periods do you think must be delved into to be well read?

Obviously this varies according to culture and place in time. To be well read in Western culture for a long time meant being knowledgeable of the major Greek and Roman myths and legends (Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Horace, etc...) as well as the Judaic/Christian Bible and surrounding narratives. Today one might certainly add Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Tolstoy, Baudelaire, and any number of other writers... including non-Western figures and narratives (the Qur'an, the Shahnameh, Tao te ching, Mahabharata, Du Fu, Li Bo, etc...) which are increasingly important in a multicultural world. I don't think we can establish any single text as a necessity, but rather one needs to have enough of a grasp of any number of "classics" to be able to fluently engage in the dialog of reading... including understanding current writing. Literature continually builds upon literature... engages in a dialog with literature... and alludes to other literature. An utter ignorance of Cervantes, Shakespeare, the Biblical and Greco-Roman narratives, etc... leaves one at a distinct disadvantage in engaging with reading and discussions on reading.

2. Does one have to have knowledge of several cultures and time periods or is a extensive knowledge in one or two areas enough?

I prefer a broader grasp of multiple cultures, but obviously no one can be a complete master of all. Most reader... and certainly scholars... focus upon a few areas: a single language or period in time or given culture or even genre (poetry or the novel or short stories, etc...). Ultimately, we are all limited in terms of language, and thus dependent upon what is available in terms of translation for anything beyond our own linguistic abilities.

3. Can reading something of low artistic merit contribute to being well read?

I suppose reading crap can help one discern what crap is as opposed to quality literature. I doubt we would imagine anyone who had read little beyond hundreds of romance novels, chick-lit, or cheesy fantasy novels to be "well-read". Ultimately the definition of "well read" is decided upon by the circle in which you travel. A "well read" Renaissance scholar has undoubtedly read far differently than a "well-read" professor of Education, or a "well-read" science-fiction fan, or a "well-read" scholar of American Modernism.

4. Are well read people more intelligent than the general population? If so, is that innate or gathered along the way?

Knowledge has nothing to do with intelligence. One might be a brilliant neuro-surgeon and know nothing of literature, art, or music. One might be a brilliant composer and rarely ever read literature let alone anything on math, science, or history. We are all profoundly ignorant in some areas. I'll be the first to admit that I am mathematically retarded beyond geometry... which is a necessity to my art.

5. Are you well read? If not, do you think you ever will be?

In some ways, yes. I've probably read more books than most people... more "classics" than many people... more poetry than most people. At the same time, the more I read, the more I recognize that I do not know... and perhaps will never know.

[kasie]

...the more I read, the more I recognize that I do not know... and perhaps will never know.

I feel the same, StLG! It's a bit like climbing a mountain and thinking you are nearly at the top only to find that there are more and more ranges stretching ahead of you. But reading is a lot more pleasurable than climbing mountains - imo and at my age, anyway!

[mortalterror]

It means you've read a lot of books.

[kenoi]

I think it takes a lot of variety in reading to be well read. Every book contains different messages that add up to wisdom, and every author uses a different language to write - so it follows, that the more variety you read, the more well-read you become.

[Jozanny]

There is being well read as a kind of tunnel vision, as well. With the exceptions of Proust and Ellison, I am sick of reading novels, and though no slight intended to Robert Thomas and Al Maginnes, both of whom are accomplished and crafted poets, I am sick of reading poetry, and am increasingly turning to scholars in other subjects.

I am exceedingly well read, like kasie and luke, but think the three of us would agree we're each well read differently. I might not know luke's Spanish Hebrew poets, but by the same token he may not be as acquainted with a structuralist like Levi-Strauss as I am.

But one should strive for cosmopolitan experiences, and that means traveling as well as reading, and a broad educational curiosity.