304. Writers and Readers are not what they used to be

Readers and the system of reading has changed

In the days that were, a writer’s life was somewhat different to what it is today.  If they were columnists they knew they had to send their piece in before a certain date and even hour.  If they were authors, they wrote their book and send it off to do the rounds.  But that was it.  No immediate publishing on the net as there is now.  Nor was there any interaction- people and writers were seldom in contact with one another.  And yet their works were devoured from cover to cover and writers were revered as unique and extraordinary creatures that did not belong to the common throng.

How things have changed!  People no longer devour the written word on paper, nor buy as many books, newspapers or magazines as they used to.  There’s no need for me to search for empirical evidence on that.   The lamentations from publishers at all levels that they can no longer survive is enough indication that things just are not what they used to be.

However, that is not because writers are not as good as they used to be surely- even though it is not usual to find a giant as a Jane Austin or D.H. Lawrence in our modern scene?  Is it possible that what is missing in the modern novel is an authentic message, a lack of enlightenment  and understanding of human nature deep enough to keep the probing reader absorbed?

Or is it because modern technology can offer so many other opportunities to the public that readers have shifted their attention from the printed word on paper to other means which are equally, if not more satisfying?

Life in the 21^st century is flying past at a faster rate than it has ever done before and whereas 18^th century readers would indulge in reading a massive fifteen hundred page volume of “Clarissa” this, today, is no longer tolerable.

Free time, especially for women, no longer exists.  With kids, laundry, shopping, cleaning, cooking and a full time job- where can you find the time to read, write or devote yourself to a spot of idleness?  When applying for a job there was a question asked that always made me smile cynically: “What are your hobbies?”  And where pray would I get the time to pursue such “superfluous” activity as a hobby?”

But man (intended to comprise woman) cannot live by “bread” alone- the “soul” or if you don’t believe in the soul, that inner part that makes up the core of your own self demands attention too.  As living beings, it would be inhumane to function as if we were machines, with at a precise schedule and automated response.  That’s why servants and maids (for they too have a soul) gathered round the kitchen hearth to listen to someone read the adventurous and romantic vicissitudes of a certain damsel called “Clarissa” after her predecessor  “Pamela” had sold “box-office” records for its author Samuel Richardson.  Incidentally, in spite of its massive dimension, “Clarissa” was vastly even more successful.

However, as I said before, this system and readership is no longer viable in our modern society- we simply do not have the time, energy or inclination to sit and devote chunks of time to reading full time novels, especially if they are devoid of that special richness of content and enlightenment that attracted past readers; because apart from category fiction, which always sells well, there is a dearth in true literary fiction which seems to absorb the reader less than in the past.

Nevertheless, since the “soul” in each of us demands to be filled and nourished, we seek to fulfil this need through other means- means that fit in with our limited time schedule and is less energy consuming than reading- like putting our feet up in front of the TV and watch an adaptation of some author’s work, skip through the pages of magazines and papers but mainly we surf the  web for the kind of sweet/sharp short message we are looking for.   Websites are static and once we have been there, we seldom return, but blogs are different.  Blogs have fresh material every time, fresh ideas, and allows us to take a peep into the writer’s personality that would otherwise not be possible- in other words we connect- writers and readers connect.

For such is the function of art- to connect, to fill and nourish the emptiness in man’s soul, to enable one to step outside his/her reality and perchance to dream...  and what most of us want to dream about is that world yet unknown- heaven.