Humiliation through Rereading

Classics

This quote by Joseph Epstein rings true with me:

Rereading can be…a humility-inducing activity, when, on rereading, one learns that the first time around with a book, one’s politics or fantasies or personal anxieties were in fact doing most of the work. Rereading books first read when young, one is inclined to weep for the naif one not so long ago was. And while at it one discovers, if one gets to reread the same book twenty years hence, one is even one now.

I can think of several books that I thought were true masterpieces when I read them twenty-five years ago that almost embarrass me now. For instance, if you can believe it, I once thought Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara was better than Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

I wonder if young readers of today will have the same experience with the Harry Potter books when they get older…

Deacon Nick

Nick Senger is a husband, a father of four, a Roman Catholic deacon and a Catholic school principal. He taught junior high literature and writing for over 25 years, and has been a Catholic school educator since 1990. In 2001 he was named a Distinguished Teacher of the Year by the National Catholic Education Association.

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