LITERACY: the ability to read and write

I read online today that the city of Laredo, Texas, population 250,000, is losing its last bookstore. In a city with one of the highest illiteracy rates in the country, it is a tragedy. Truthfully, it is a tragedy by any calculation. A city without a bookstore is unimaginable.

Granted, there are other means of securing books. One can always go to the Internet and purchase books on Amazon.com. But let's be honest...in a situation where the literacy rate is so low, how many people do you think will take the trouble to go to the Internet to purchase a book? And...if illiteracy is so prevalent, what is the possibility that the Internet is even an option?

The library is a good option, and the Laredo Public Library indicates that they are busy. But the ability to own a book, especially for a young child, is something special, bringing with it an urgency to learn to master the skills of reading and writing.

Bookstores may be one of those places that we take for granted because we have them. And in places like Providence, they are plentiful. There is a variety of bookstores available and they all seem to be busy. Some are equipped with cafes and comfortable sofas; others are strictly stores with books for sale.

But overall, I am concerned about literacy in this country. From an early history of rampant illiteracy we sprang to being a country in which literacy was a significant value. With the onset of a more permissive society since the 60's, however, the prioritizing of literacy has slipped and continues to decline. Public education scrambles to improve the situation but serious involvement in education is hit-and-miss in both urban and rural settings.

Family prioritizing of reading has been replaced with addiction to television, video games, personal communication tools, and ipods. The practice of reading and writing with these instruments has been reduced to a whole new language with a form which rejects literary methods. Writing with a pen or pencil seems like it is limited to signing one's name on a credit card receipt.

Giving books as holiday gifts is a way to reverse this trend. Families who have "reading nights" when electronic instruments and television are turned off find their children engrossed in reading. Communities that sponsor summer read-a-thons, with prizes for children who read a hundred books experience the same kind of excitement. But that's a pretty middle-class picture, and a limited one at that.

It is an awesome thing to see the children in deprived societies clamor for the books which not-for-profit agencies distribute to them. They are highly-valued possessions. Perhaps it is abundance in our society that undermines that same kind of enthusiasm for reading. Harry Potter was a temporary reprieve from the slippery slope, and there is some hope that the vampire craze will copy it. But those are flash-in-the-pan kinds of things unless some intentional energy is exerted between popular publications.

I have a partial solution to this dilemma that swirls around in my head. I wonder what the result would be if there was an intentional project to show movie stars, rock musicians, athletes and other cultural icons reading and encouraging reading. (Assuming of course, that they can read.) I fear that reading has become characterized by many young people as a geeky thing...something that isn't cool. It couldn't be a temporary, seasonal issue, but something that became a regular part of television, movie, and magazine display for a decade or more. I'm not naive enough to believe that it, alone, would turn the nation around, but it might have an impact on a significant number of children and young people.

I hope some company will read the article in today's news about Laredo and rush down there and open a flashy, inexpensive, and bi-lingual bookstore. And then I hope the schools in Laredo make an effort to encourage the purchase and ownership of books as valued friends.


(Photo Credit: The Literacy Project.com)

roman à clef: a novel in which actual persons, places, or events are depicted in fictional guise. (Dictionary.com)

----------

I love this word/phrase. It is pronounced rōmäN' ä klā'. What I love about it is that it is something that happens intentionally to some authors, and unintentionally to many, many others. My suspicion is that it is a surprise to many authors to discover that their novel is more autobiographical than they expected. When I first began to explore the realm of fictional writing I was told that when an author begins to write the themes are drawn from that which is most familiar. The comfort level with their own story is available and approachable, allowing the author (either consciously or unconsciously) to focus upon the act of writing without struggling to develop a story.

A...common type of roman à clef is one in which the disguised characters are easily recognized only by a few insiders, as in Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins (1954).(Encyclopedia Britannica Online)

Developing a story line is a far more complicated process than many might expect. For me, at least, it begins with a simple idea (sometimes a word) and begins to unfold as I write. Sometimes there is a skeleton of a story in my mind or in my notes. But many times the story evolves as I write. There comes a point where I have to know the ending in order to arrive there effectively. But that ending may change numerous times in the course of writing.

Back to roman à clef , however, the fictional story may begin with an actual experience, but there comes a point where it must vary in order to become the short story or novel it is intended to be. This is where a roman à clef differs from an autobiography. Just changing the names and disguising the location is not enough. A new element must be introduced into the story which changes the facts.

Gradually, as an author begins to emerge into his or her voice the need for autobiographical information diminishes and plot begins to develop independently. There is a rush when this happens. It is as if another part of the brain has been tapped. Personal experience is not lost, necessarily, but its role in the product is diminished and may only appear incidentally.

John Irving, the novelist, for instance, writes almost exclusively about New Hampshire. His prep school and certain character types are in almost every one of his novels. But, whereas his earlier novels were specifically about Exeter and specific people, in more recent novels they have become more or less references which are laced into the story in a less prominent way.

It occurs to me that roman à clef is not restricted to the writing of novels. Isn't it true that this is a characteristic of social conversation, as well? When we first meet a new friend, there is much talk about personal background. As the relationship progresses, new material emerges as the common bond. Personal experience is not lost, but its prominence is not as visible as jointly-experienced moments become of greater significance.


Dictionary source:The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.