The
Lost Art of Reading

By
Gerald Stanley Lee
Author of “The Shadow Christ” (A Study of the Hebrew Poets)
and “About an Old New England Church”
“A Little History”

Copyright, 1902
by
GERALD STANLEY LEE

Published, November, 1902
Reprinted January 1903

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

To
JENNETTE LEE

Contents

• BOOK I PAGE
  INTERFERENCES WITH THE READING HABIT 1
  • CIVILISATION 3
    1. Dust 3
    2. Dust 5
    3. Dust to Dust 8
    4. Ashes 12
    5. The Literary Rush 15
    6. Parenthesis—To the Gentle Reader 24
    7. More Parenthesis—But More to the Point 28
    8. More Literary Rush 34
    9. The Bugbear of Being Well Informed—A Practical Suggestion 41
    10. The Dead Level of Intelligence 48
    11. The Art of Reading as One Likes 58
  • THE DISGRACE OF THE IMAGINATION 67
    1. On Wondering Why One Was Born 67
    2. The Top of the Bureau Principle 74
  • THE UNPOPULARITY OF THE FIRST PERSON SINGULAR 82
    1. The First Person a Necessary Evil 82
    2. The Art of Being Anonymous 89
    3. Egoism and Society 96
    4. i + I = We 99
    5. The Autobiography of Beauty 104
  • THE HABIT OF NOT LETTING ONE’S SELF GO 109
    1. The Country Boy in Literature 109
    2. The Subconscious Self 115
    3. The Organic Principle of Inspiration 120
  • THE HABIT OF ANALYSIS 125
    1. If Shakespeare Came to Chicago 125
    2. Analysis Analysed 136
  • LITERARY DRILL IN COLLEGE 144
    1. Seeds and Blossoms 144
    2. Private Road: Dangerous 150
    3. The Organs of Literature 159
    4. Entrance Examinations in Joy 164
    5. Natural Selection in Theory 171
    6. Natural Selection in Practice 175
    7. The Emancipation of the Teacher 182
    8. The Test of Culture 186
    9. Summary 188
    10. A Note 194
  • LIBRARIES. WANTED: AN OLD-FASHIONED LIBRARIAN 196
    1. viz. 196
    2. cf. 199
    3. et al. 202
    4. etc. 205
    5. O 212
• BOOK II
  POSSIBILITIES 217
  •  
    1. The Issue 219
    2. The First Selection 222
    3. Conveniences 223
    4. The Charter of Possibility 230
    5. The Great Game 233
    6. Outward Bound 239
• BOOK III
  DETAILS. THE CONFESSIONS OF AN UNSCIENTIFIC MIND 247
  1. UNSCIENTIFIC 249
     1. On Being Intelligent in a Library 249
     2. How It Feels 253
     3. How a Specialist Can Be an Educated Man 254
     4. On Reading Books Through their Backs 258
     5. On Keeping Each Other in Countenance 261
     6. The Romance of Science 264
     7. Monads 267
     8. Multiplication Tables 277
  2. READING FOR PRINCIPLES 279
     1. On Changing One’s Conscience 279
     2. On the Intolerance of Experienced People 282
     3. On Having One’s Experience Done Out 285
     4. On Reading a Newspaper in Ten Minutes 289
     5. General Information 291
     6. But—— 299
  3. READING DOWN THROUGH 307
     1. Inside 307
     2. On Being Lonely with a Book 308
     3. Keeping Other Minds Off 311
     4. Reading Backwards 313
  4. READING FOR FACTS 319
     1. Calling the Meeting to Order 319
     2. Symbolic Facts 323
     3. Duplicates: A Principle of Economy 325
  5. READING FOR RESULTS 329
     1. The Blank Paper Frame of Mind 329
     2. The Usefully Unfinished 334
     3. Athletics 340
  6. READING FOR FEELINGS 347
     1. The Passion of Truth 347
     2. The Topical Point of View 352
  7. READING THE WORLD TOGETHER 359
     1. Focusing 359
     2. The Human Unit 364
     3. The Higher Cannibalism 367
     4. Spiritual Thrift 378
     5. The City, the Church, and the College 384
     6. The Outsiders 389
     7. Reading the World Together 397
• BOOK IV
  WHAT TO DO NEXT 403
  •  
    1. See Next Chapter 405
    2. Diagnosis 410
    3. Eclipse 412
    4. Apocalypse 419
    5. Every Man His Own Genius 426
    6. An Inclined Plane 430
    7. Allons 435