Reading and rereading

The month assigned for literary and cultural activities has waned off with the dawn of October, the month meant for reading, commonly denoted by the term ‘kiyaveeme masaya’ (month for reading). During this month, a special emphasis will be laid to concentrate on aspects of reading.

Reading is a basic process where literacy is concerned. The reader ought to be literate where he is skilled in knowing or perceiving the meanings of a message in print via letters in a particular alphabet.

Less literacy

It’s heartening to hear that the literacy rate in our own country has risen with the development of education ways over the years. In comparison, there are countries with a lesser rate in literacy.

As such literacy is regarded as the hallmark of one area in social development. Information is gathered and disseminated via literate people. The information thus gathered may go into the moulding of a knowledgeable person. In this process, ignorance and knowledge on social matters are dependable on literacy rates of individuals and groups. It is said that human beings are the only creatures who manage to read and write, while even the closest primates fail to do so.

But that’s the evolutionary process. Coming on to the latest developments in reading, quite a lot of surveys have been carried on pertaining to aspects of reading at all levels. In Sri Lanka one survey, on gauging the reading habits linked to newspapers, is in process as conducted by Sri Lanka Press Council. The basic objective of the survey is to ascertain the level of newspaper reading as against the impact of other mass media channel.

October is the Reading Month

One may ask a pertinent question. Do people today read newspapers when they have access to the Internet and other forms of exposure? Strangely enough, there are newspaper readers at all levels. People go to libraries to read newspapers.

Coming on to a broader area of finding, it is believed that the type of reading has changed. As stated by a popular book publisher, the most number of copies happen to be translations from other languages. What does this indicate? The tradition-bound reader has taken a new twist. Most readers, especially the juvenile reader, prefer to know about experiences, cultures and living conditions in other cultures.

Human experiences

This could be perceived from two main points. Firstly the broader desires to go beyond the narrow-boundaries of human experiences. Secondly the reader desires to acquire new experiences linked with cross cultural phenomena. Perhaps opening out of new educational dimensions may have caused the effect of possessing an urge to break into fresh pasture. Unlike in the past where the readership was confined to words, phrases, etc it has come to a moment where even the term ‘rereading’ has come to stay. In this direction the term denotes the search through the past via fresh dimensions.

‘New reading’ is a new term that has come to stay in literary discourses. The meaning there is just not taking a fresh look, but a term that denotes a total function of the need to be aware of a subject depending on new findings both in literary studies and socio-anthropological studies.

As such from time to time ‘new reading’ techniques are ushered in. Quite a number of activities could be introduced for the betterment of reading during the month. The plans laid down within a month could be developed over the year to yield better results.

Some basic questions have to be addressed.

1. Do you read?

2. What do you read?

3. What do you anticipate via reading process?

4. Have you found any new interest in the book of the past?

5. Do you like to reread them, in the light of new knowledge?

As is done in some of the universities abroad (Eg Leicester University) practical exercises could be designed and provided fro the development of reading habits. It could trigger off from a minor religious tales to a classic, where the main idea is to gauge the basic necessity of reading.

This may go hand in hand with language teaching. The interest in reading has to be kindled for a purpose. I know of a local thinker, a rationalist, who declared that he has given up reading to replace his thinking process. But the criterion could not be applied at all levels in the social strata.

Children have to be trained to select good books. New books have to be written for them by specialists. This cannot be undermined. The educationists have to revise some books from time to time. Reading at the school and juvenile level depends on certain cultural susceptibilities.

The educationists who underestimate them may tend to give interpretations to reading habits. Reading also could be stimulated via sound and visual media, which is currently done with severe shortcomings.

A healthy discourse on reading is anticipated.

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