"I have to think that “Against Rereading,” by Oscar Schwartz, is a massive troll, because the alternative — that Schwartz believes himself to be so omnicompetent a reader, so perfect in his perception, so masterful in his judgment, that he absorbs all that even the greatest book has to offer with a single reading — is unpleasant to contemplate. Or maybe there’s one more possibility: that — like Kafka’s hunger artist, who never found a food he liked — Schwartz has never been sufficiently interested in a book to return to it.
But surely he makes one important point: the problem with our culture today is definitely all those people who don’t want ceaseless novelty. Definitely. I’m almost certain he’s just trolling, though."
I'm strongly in favor of rereading. It's true that a new experience is only new the first time, but it's also true that repeats of that experience brings new, different, and valuable understanding that you don't get the first time.
"I have to think that “Against Rereading,” by Oscar Schwartz, is a massive troll, because the alternative — that Schwartz believes himself to be so omnicompetent a reader, so perfect in his perception, so masterful in his judgment, that he absorbs all that even the greatest book has to offer with a single reading — is unpleasant to contemplate. Or maybe there’s one more possibility: that — like Kafka’s hunger artist, who never found a food he liked — Schwartz has never been sufficiently interested in a book to return to it.
But surely he makes one important point: the problem with our culture today is definitely all those people who don’t want ceaseless novelty. Definitely. I’m almost certain he’s just trolling, though."