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The 10 Inalienable Rights of the Reader
June 9, 2010
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These rights have been described by Daniel Pennac, in his book “Comme un roman” (literally “Like a novel” translated by “The Rights of the Reader”). This book is about reading and here are the 10 inalienable rights of the reader :
1) The right to not read,
2) The right to skip pages
3) The right to not finish a book,
4) The right to reread,
5) The right to read anything,
6) The right to “Bovary-ism,” a textually-transmitted disease
7) The right to read anywhere,
8 The right to sample and steal (“grappiller”),
9) The right to read out-loud,
10) The right to be silent.
What it means to me :
- Reading is neither a daily obligation or something one must do to be a good or accomplished person.
- I admit I skipped some pages of description of the Napoleonian battles in War and Peace and some pages in Naked Lunch. And I’m not ashmed of it.
- Reading Naked Lunch reminded me Daniel Pennac had written about the 10 inalienable rights of the reader, among those the right to give up reading a book.
- This puzzles my husband. “How many times have you read this book?”.
- Yes I both like Philip Roth and Anne Perry. I don’t expect the same thing from them, that’s all.
- By this right, Daniel Pennac means the right to read thrillers or romance, books that talk to our senses more than they talk to our brain.
- I always have a book in my handbag.
- Daniel Pennac means the right to pick up a book on a shelf, read one passage or two, and take another one.
- This is something adults don’t do very often, except to read to children. Maybe we should reinvent reading evenings like in 19th century novels.
- You’re not obliged to talk about what you read.
Categories: 20th Century, About reading, French Literature, Pennac, Daniel
French Literature
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