\ud835\udddb\ud835\uddfc\ud835\ude04 \ud835\ude01\ud835\uddfc \ud835\uddd5\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddfa\ud835\uddf2 \ud835\uddee \ud835\udddf\ud835\uddf6\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddff\ud835\ude06 \ud835\udde6\ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddef \ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddfb \ud835\udde7\ud835\uddf5\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf2 \ud835\uddd8\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude00\ud835\ude06 \ud835\udde6\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddfd\ud835\ude00<\/p>\n
I’m a literary snob. No apologies. Once you’ve read the best, it’s hard to come down.<\/p>\n
If you’d asked me to name my favorite authors 30 years ago, the list would look much the same today. I’m not sure what that says about me. Or the current state of literature.<\/p>\n
But there’s a method behind my reading habits that I only recently recognized.<\/p>\n
I never wanted to go through life without reading \ud835\ude1e\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude33 \ud835\ude22\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude25 \ud835\ude17\ud835\ude26\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude24\ud835\ude26 or \ud835\ude14\ud835\ude30\ud835\ude23\ud835\ude3a \ud835\ude0b\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude24\ud835\ude2c. There are only so many books you can read in a lifetime, and I figured I might as well aim high.<\/p>\n
Here’s how I approached French literature.<\/p>\n
First, I asked who belonged among the greatest French novelists.<\/p>\n
Flaubert came up quickly.<\/p>\n
Next question: What’s his masterpiece?<\/p>\n
\ud835\ude14\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude25\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude2e\ud835\ude26 \ud835\ude09\ud835\ude30\ud835\ude37\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude33\ud835\ude3a.<\/p>\n
I read it. Loved it. Then went looking for more Flaubert: \ud835\ude1a\ud835\ude26\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude35\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude2e\ud835\ude26\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude35\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude2d \ud835\ude0c\ud835\ude25\ud835\ude36\ud835\ude24\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude35\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude30\ud835\ude2f, \ud835\ude1a\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude2d\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude2e\ud835\ude2e\ud835\ude23\u00f4, his short stories.<\/p>\n
\ud835\udde7\ud835\uddf5\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf2 \ud835\ude00\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddfd\ud835\ude00: find a master, read a masterpiece, follow your curiosity.<\/p>\n
Without realizing it, I’d developed a rough version of the 80\/20 principle for educating myself.<\/p>\n
The same approach works with music, painting, film, philosophy, or virtually anything else you want to explore.<\/p>\n
Start at the top. Get a taste of what the field can accomplish. Then work your way outward.<\/p>\n
And here’s the important part: \ud835\ude2e\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude2c\ud835\ude26 \ud835\ude36\ud835\ude31 \ud835\ude3a\ud835\ude30\ud835\ude36\ud835\ude33 \ud835\ude30\ud835\ude38\ud835\ude2f \ud835\ude2e\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude25.<\/p>\n
I’ve encountered famous authors who left me cold or indifferent. Their reputations didn’t obligate me to admire them.<\/p>\n
You’ll never read everything. Nobody will.<\/p>\n
But you \ud835\ude24\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude2f read\/experience some of the best. These are authors that I keep coming back to, decade after decade and still find more.<\/p>\n
\ud835\uddd9\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddf5
\n\u2022 Gustave Flaubert
\n\u2022 Marcel Proust
\n\u2022 Alain Robbe-Grillet
\n\u2022 Guy de Maupassant
\n\u2022 Alexandre Dumas
\n\u2022 Victor Hugo<\/p>\n
\ud835\udde5\ud835\ude02\ud835\ude00\ud835\ude00\ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddfb
\n\u2022 Leo Tolstoy
\n\u2022 Nikolai Gogol
\n\u2022 Anton Chekhov
\n\u2022 Alexander Pushkin
\n\u2022 Ivan Turgenev<\/p>\n
\ud835\uddd8\ud835\ude02\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddfd\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddfb
\n\u2022 William Shakespeare
\n\u2022 Charles Dickens
\n\u2022 James Joyce
\n\u2022 H.G. Wells
\n\u2022 Oscar Wilde
\n\u2022 Lewis Carroll
\n\u2022 Arthur Conan Doyle
\n\u2022 Mervyn Peake<\/p>\n
\ud835\uddd4\ud835\uddfa\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddfb
\n\u2022 Vladimir Nabokov (he did have US citizenship)
\n\u2022 Truman Capote
\n\u2022 Philip K. Dick
\n\u2022 Herman Melville
\n\u2022 H.P. Lovecraft
\n\u2022 Ernest Hemingway
\n\u2022 Richard Matheson
\n\u2022 Charles Beaumont
\n\u2022 J.D. Salinger
\n\u2022 William S. Burroughs
\n\u2022 Harlan Ellison<\/p>\n
\ud835\udde8\ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf4\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf6\ud835\ude07\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf1 \/ \ud835\uddd6\ud835\uddf9\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude00\ud835\ude00\ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddf0\ud835\ude00
\n\u2022 Homer
\n\u2022 Virgil
\n\u2022 Dante Alighieri
\n\u2022 Franz Kafka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\ud835\udddb\ud835\uddfc\ud835\ude04 \ud835\ude01\ud835\uddfc \ud835\uddd5\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddfa\ud835\uddf2 \ud835\uddee \ud835\udddf\ud835\uddf6\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddff\ud835\ude06 \ud835\udde6\ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddef \ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddfb \ud835\udde7\ud835\uddf5\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf2 \ud835\uddd8\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude00\ud835\ude06 \ud835\udde6\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddfd\ud835\ude00 I’m a literary snob. No apologies. Once you’ve read the best, it’s hard to come down. If you’d asked me to name my favorite authors 30 years ago, the list would look much the same today. I’m not sure what that says about me. Or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}