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to Germany, Switzerland and the USA, returning to Russia in 1994. His best known novels were based on his experiences as a prisoner and include: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962), Cancer Ward (1968), The Gulag Archipelago (1974–1978). His later works were about Russian history and identity.
Graham Greene (1904–1991): a British novelist, short-story writer, playwright, travel writer and essayist. He wrote a number of thrillers (he called them ‘entertainments’) which dramatize an
ambiguous moral dilemma, often revealing guilt, treachery, failure and a theme of pursuit. Greene was also a film critic and all of these novels have been made into films: Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940), The Heart of the Matter (1948), The Third Man (1950), The Quiet American (1955), and Our Man in Havana (1958).
E. M. Forster (1879–1970): a British novelist and writer of short stories and essays. He lived at
different periods in Italy, Egypt and India and taught at Cambridge University. His best known novels include A Room with a View (1908), Howard’s End (1910), A Passage to India (1924) which have all been made into films. His writing about reading and writing includes a book of lectures, Aspects of the Novel (1927).
Thomas Merton (1915–1968): an American Catholic writer, who was a Trappist monk in Kentucky. He wrote over 70 books, including many essays about Buddhism and a translation into English of the Chinese classic, Chuang Tse. He had a great deal to say about the meeting of Eastern and Western cultures and wrote many letters to writers, poets, scholars and thinkers. He read a lot in English, Latin, French and Spanish and said he always had at least three books which he was reading at any one time. William Blake (1757–1827): a British poet, artist and mystic, who read widely in English, French, Italian, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He made many engravings to illustrate the work of such writers as Virgil, Dante and Chaucer, as well as his own poems. He stressed that imagination was more
important than rationalism and the materialism of the 18th century and criticized the effects of the industrial revolution in England, but his work was largely disregarded by his peers. He is best known for his poetry in Songs of Innocence (1787) and Songs of Experience (1794). His belief in the oneness of all created things is shown in his much-quoted verse, “To see the world in a grain of sand / And a heaven in a flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand / And eternity in an hour.”
Clifton Fadiman (1904–1999): an American writer, radio and TV broadcaster and editor of
anthologies. For over 50 years he was an editor and judge for the Book-of-the-Month Club. In 1960 he wrote a popular guide to great books for American readers, The Lifetime Reading Plan, which discusses 133 authors and their major work: the 1997 edition includes 9 authors from China.
J. K. Rowling (1965–): British writer of the seven Harry Potter fantasy books. She studied French and Classics at Exeter University, before teaching English in Portugal and training to teach French in Scotland. The main idea about a school for wizards and the orphan Harry Potter came on a delayed train journey from Manchester to London in 1990. She began to write as soon as she reached London. Twelve publishersrejected the first book before Bloomsbury, a small London publisher, agreed to publish it. Later books have repeatedly broken all the sales records (as have some of the films). She is one of the richest women in the UK and a notable supporter of many charities.
Language points
1 Variety’s the very spice of life, / That gives it all its flavour … (Para 2)
Spices are made from plants and added to food to give it its particular flavour or taste. The English proverb
“Variety is the spice of life” (the proverb comes from Cowper’s poem) therefore means that variety gives
life extra value and allows you to appreciate life in particular ways.
2 We learn to look beyond our immediate surroundings to the horizon and a landscape far away from
home. (Para 3)
This means that through reading we learn to look beyond our immediate experience or familiar
environment to things beyond our immediate experience, ie to completely different things that we can imagine and experience through books.
3 When a baseball player hits a home run he hits the ball so hard and so far he’s able to run round the
four bases of the diamond, and score points not only for himself but for the other runners already
on a base. (Para 9)
In the American game of baseball, the field of grass is diamond-shaped and has four bases (specific points
marked around the diamond), round which players must run to score points. One team bats (ie team members take turns to hit the ball and run round the bases) and the members of the other team throw (pitch)
the ball and, when it is has been hit, try to catch it or get it quickly to one of the four bases. If a batting player can hit the ball hard enough, he can run round all four bases before the other team can get the ball
and thus score maximum points – with a home run. In the passage, a really good book is a home run.
3 Choose the best answer to the questions. 1 Why are we like Alice in wonderland when we read a book? (a) Because, like Alice, we often have accidents. (b) Because reading makes us feel young again.
(c) Because reading opens the door to new experiences. (d) Because books lead us into a dream world.
2 According to the writer, what is the advantage of reading over real life? (a) There is more variety in books than in real life.
(b) We can experience variety and difference without going out of the house. (c) The people we meet in a book are more interesting than real people. (d) It’s harder to make sense of real life than a book.
3 What do the seven novels listed in Paragraph 4 have in common? (a) Their titles stimulate imagination.
(b) They represent the best writing by British and American novelists. (c) They have become classics.
(d) You can find all of them in any local library.
4 At what moment in our lives do books become important? (a) As soon as we start reading.
(b) When we start buying books to fill our shelves at home. (c) When we start listening to bedtime stories.
(d) Only when we are ready for books.
5 What claim did Merton make about the poems of William Blake? (a) They were similar to the works of the Greek writers and thinkers. (b) They helped him understand the meaning of life. (c) They created a sense of confusion.
(d) They taught him a lot about modern culture. 6 What is meant by a home-run book?
(a) A book which is so good you are unable to put it down. (b) A book that the whole family can enjoy.
(c) A children’s book that is read and appreciated by adults.
(d) A book that hits hard like a home run in the game of baseball. Dealing with unfamiliar words
4 Match the words in the box with their definitions. 1 to make someone feel that they do not belong to your group (exclude) 2 to fail to do something that you should do (neglect) 3 to mention something as an example (cite)
4 to be strong enough not to be harmed or destroyed by something (withstand) 5 in most situations or cases (normally) 6 to be about to happen in the future (await)
5 Complete the paragraph with the correct form of the words in Activity 4. When I lived in Britain, one of my favourite radio programmes was called “Desert Island Discs”. The format was always the same: Guest celebrities were asked to imagine they had been washed ashore on a
desert island, and had to choose nine books – (1) excluding the Bible and Shakespeare, which they were
already provided with – to take with them to the island, to help them (2) withstand the physical and mental
isolation. I sometimes like to think which books I would take. (3) Normally, like most people, I don’t have much time for reading, and I could (4) cite dozens of books which I have never read but which I would like to. It’s an opportunity I have (5) awaited all my life, in fact. But what would I choose? Mostly
novels, probably, but I wouldn’t (6) neglect to include a volume or two of poetry. My first choice, I think,
would be Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I’ve never read it, but I’m ready to believe that it is one of the most
marvelous books ever written.
6 Replace the underlined words with the correct form of the words in the box. 1 In a good novel, the writer and reader communicate with each other. (interact) 2 I have to face up to the problem sooner or later. (confront) 3 I read the book in one sitting and Mary did too. (likewise)
4 E. M. Forster was one of the most important and respected British novelists of the 20th century. (influential)
5 Do you believe that a work of literature can actually lead to social changes? (induce)
6 Robert Burns was a great poet who wrote in the language variety spoken in Scotland. (dialect)
7 The Time Traveller’s Wife is the story of a man who has a strange and inexplicable genetic disorder. (mysterious)
7 Answer the questions about the words. 1 If you have had a disconcerting experience, do you feel a bit (a) tired, or (b) confused? 2 If you have a vista of something, can you (a) see or imagine it, or (b) go and visit it? 3 Would you express great wrath by (a) smiling at someone, or (b) shouting at them? 4 If you feel enchanted by a book, do you (a) like it a lot, or (b) not like it at all? 5 Is a writer who is supremely talented (a) very good, or (b) quite good at his job?
6 If reading fosters an understanding of certain problems, does it (a) help understanding, or (b) prevent it?
7 If you are desperately trying to get a job, are you (a) trying very hard to get it, or (b) caring little whether you get it or not?
8 Is a sensation (a) a certainty, or (b) just a feeling?
Active reading (2)
They were alive and they spoke to me Background information
This is from The Books in My Life by Henry Miller (1861–1980), an American novelist, writer and painter. Miller was born in New York, lived in Paris 1930–1939, and then in California. His
best-known works blend fiction, autobiography, social criticism and mysticism: Tropic of Cancer (1934 published in France) describes his life and loves in Paris and because of its sexual frankness it was not published in the USA till 1961; Black Spring (1936) has ten autobiographical stories; Tropic of Capricorn (1939) is about his years with the Western Union Telegraph Company; The Colossus of Maroussi (1941), considered by some critics to be his best work, is a travel book about people from his stay in Greece.
In The Books in My Life (1969) Miller looks at 100 books that influenced him. His list includes children’s books written originally for adults (eg Alice in Wonderland, The Arabian Nights, Greek Myths and Legends, Robinson Crusoe, The Three Musketeers); many French novels and poetry (eg by Balzac, Hugo, Giono, Nerval, Proust, Rimbaud, Huysmans, Maeterlinck), German novels (by Mann, Hesse, Dreiser) and the Chinese Lao Tse and Fenollosa’s The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry, besides work by American writers (Twain, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman), Dostoievshy, Nietzsche, Joyce and writers on spiritual topics. Culture points
August Strindberg (1849–1912): A Swedish playwright and a prolific writer of novels, short stories, satires, essays and poems, and a photographer, who tried various jobs before becoming assistant
librarian at the Royal Library in Stockholm and established an experimental theatre. He is best known for his plays, including The Father (1887) and Miss Julie (1888), and for his vitality, vigour, and brilliant use of language.
Miller cites Strindberg’s autobiographies, The Confession of a Fool (vol.2), a passionate love story and account of problems in his marriage, and The Inferno (vol.3), a study of his religious conversion, delusions and neuroses which reflect Strindberg’s periods of mental instability. Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961) is the pen name of Frédéric Sauser, a Swiss-born French novelist, shortstory writer, poet, and film-maker, who led a life of constant travel (he was born in an Italian
railway train) doing various jobs in Russia, Europe, North and South America and Asia – he is said to have shoveled coal on steam trains in China. He lost his right arm fighting for France in World War I. His prose includes vivid, witty, action-packed novels, like Moravagine (1926), which describe travel and adventure, or works directly inspired by his own experience, like The Astonished Man (1945) and The Cut Hand (1946), and four volumes of memoirs. Miller admired his work and lists ‘virtually the complete works’ of Cendrars as influential reading. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915): a French writer of 50 books: essays, novels and poetry, with a strong interest in medieval Latin literature; as a critic he was admired by T. S. Eliot. He was a librarian at the National Library in Paris; later, a painful skin disease kept him largely at home. He was influential in the symbolist movement in literature. He claimed that a work of art exists only through the emotion it gives us. He asserted the need to get away from the unquestioning acceptance of commonplace ideas and associations of ideas, and believed it was necessary for thought to proceed by imagery rather than by ideas.
Julius Caesar (110 BC–44 BC): a Roman statesman, known as a great military strategist. As a
general he was famous for the conquest of Gaul (modern France and Belgium) which he added to the Roman Empire. He also made two expeditions to Britain, was governor of Spain and traveled in North Africa and Egypt. He was a good speaker and he wrote several books of commentaries and memoirs on Roman wars and military campaigns. Caesar’s writing is often studied today by those who learn Latin.
The Julius Caesar of literature: this phrase compares Cendrars with Caesar: both were men of action, travelers, adventurers, explorers, who somehow found time to read a lot and write books.
Language points
1 The fact, however, that in the past I did most of my work without the aid of library I look upon as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. (Para 1)
This is irony. Miller is writing about the importance of reading and about key books in his life, but there is a paradox: Only recently has he been able to get all the books he has wanted all his life (ie he now has money, as a best-selling writer, to buy books) and, as a writer, he wrote books without the help of a library. He says that not having books was an advantage. The explanation is probably that Miller’s early writing was a mixture of autobiography and fiction, so he didn’t need to read other books or refer to them to do his own writing. The irony is that he is saying this in a book about the books the influenced him.
2 A good book lives through the passionate recommendation of one reader to another. (Para 3) Miller thinks that a good part of the ‘life’ of a book is how one reader recommends it to another with enthusiasm, ie books are about sharing experience, not just the author’s experience in the book and the reader’s experience of reading it, but also the experience of word-of-mouth or face-to-face recommendation by other readers.
3 And the better the man the more easily will he part with his most cherished possessions. (Para 4)
This continues Miller’s thought that books are for sharing. A good person will share things he or she loves. In this case, such a person will give or lend favourite books and such generosity makes friends: When you give books you get friendship.
4 If you are honest with yourself you will discover that your stature has increased from the mere effort of resisting your impulse. (Para 6)