Oh gosh, ANOTHER confession?
Here it is...
...I judge people. Harshly.
Who doesn't. I will never let it cloud my ability to be open minded until I get to know that person. After that, it's game on. Recently, I met a sweetheart who proclaimed herself to be an avid reader and book lover. Hell yes! She was telling me that she wants to go back to school for her B.A. and was interested in going for Literature. A woman after my own heart. She said in a haughty voice that she judges people who do not read and won't talk to them if they don't (even I'm not that bad - I'll talk to them and have plenty of material to talk about to my friends after, obviously).
We started talking about what we were currently reading. I told her I was reading "The American" by Henry James. I love Henry James. As my brother recently pointed out, there is no soul in his books. I just adore the commentary on American-European social standards in the late 1800's, as well as the travel aspect of it. What can I say, it gets me all hot and bothered. She had never heard of Henry James. Hmm. Really? Not everyone has, so I'll let it slide. The conversation continued and she told me she loves British and Irish literature. Me too! James Joyce is one of my favorite authors! Her response? "Oh, I've never heard of James Joyce! Is he a new author?" I almost fell off my chair. And she wanted to major in literature? 
I can appreciate the fact that she enjoys reading, even though most of her chosen material seems to be of the...sexual persuasion. At least it's using more of the brain than watching television. I have to admit, once in a very great while I will pick up a chick lit book. Hell, I freaking love horror fiction, especially those that involve vampires (sorry, I hated the Twilight series - horribly written). Yet I'm still going to judge you if you act all high and mighty and better than everyone because you read constantly, claim you love Irish literature but you don't know who James Joyce is. What's next, are you going to tell me you don't know who Sylvia Plath or Virginia Woolf are?
I'm not saying that everyone should run out and be well versed on Joyce or James. I just feel that if you truly have a passion for literature, you would at least have heard of these authors. Therefore, I'm judging her. Harshly. But I'll never let her know and I'll continue to allow her to talk "books" with me.
3 comments:
How bizarre! James Joyce seems like a pretty standard household name. Not that I know anything about the dude, but I know his name at least!
I didn't like Twilight either. I only made it about 3/4 of the way through the first book and had to throw in the towel.
That said, I've learned there is very little criteria on which you can effectively judge people. We're all so complicated, and even if someone hates to read, she probably does loads of other things that I don't do...
I just decided that I absolutely must 'follow' your blog. Your post speaks to me, not in the sense of knowing my literature (because I do not) but in the sense of allowing yourself to freely judge people.
Yeah, Twilight was lame. I read about half of it at Borders. I'm just glad I didn't pay for it.
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