October the Seventh Post

Quality Over Quantity: How Could the Quality of Books Read Affect Impressionable Readers?

"Oh! Oh! their History! interrupted the Knight! What, I warrant you, they are to be found in the Fairy Tales, and those sort of Books! Well, I never could like such Romances, not I; for they only spoil Youth, and put strange Notions into their Heads. . . 
Upon my Word, resumed Arabella, all the Respect I owe you cannot hinder me from telling you, that I take it extremely ill you should, in my Presence, rail at the finest Productions in the World: I think, we are infinitely obliged to these Authors, who have, in so sublime a Style, delivered down to Posterity the heroic Actions of the bravest Men, and most virtuous of Women: But for the inimitable Pen of the famous Scudery, we had been ignorant of the Lives of many great and illustrious Persons." -- The Female Quixote, pages 61-2

"But the fear of not being approved as just copyers of human manners, is not the most important concern that an author of this sort ought to have before him. These books are written chiefly to the young, the ignorant, and the idle, to whom they serve as lectures of conduct, and introductions into life. They are the entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and therefore easily susceptible of impressions; not fixed by principles, and therefore easily following the current of fancy; not informed by experiences, and consequently open to every false suggestion and partial account." -- Johnson, The Rambler  

From Arabella's upbringing, it's clear how she came to idolize the romance novels as she does, and incorporate them so completely into her everyday life. With her sequestered upbringing, it's commendable that she still became so intelligent, yet that makes it all the more unfortunate that her life was so corrupted by her false ideals. Her devotion and addiction to her subpar romance novels is interesting in the context of our class readings this week on the neuroscience and history of reading, in relation to absorption. We discussed this in class, as well: is it because Arabella so absorbed by her romance novels that they have permeated her thoughts? Or is she past the absorption stage, and obsessed with projecting the situations that she read about onto her own life? I believe that it is the latter, and it is because they were the only reading material available to her for pleasure, as opposed to the mandated coursework readings that her father may have given her for her instruction, that she came to form such a positive association with them, and wanted to model her own lackluster life after such illustrious examples. Johnson's The Rambler is correct here when he asserts that these works of fiction "with which the present generation seems particularly delighted" were written "to the young, the ignorant, and the idle," although Arabella is only socially ignorant; her father removed her from society, and any hope of interaction that would embellish her blank slate with accurate archetypal experiences. Even though Arabella is extremely well read, she made the mistake of accepting her favorite genre as factual. As Johnson suggests, and the Female Quixote sets to prove, this is extremely hazardous to societal life, as it renders her extremely susceptible to such flights of fancy that we have already seen endanger her and embarrass her tenacious admirer.
It's striking that a satire from 1750 about the danger of the impracticability of romance novels through exploiting the "clash between literary illusion and mundane reality" still seems a relevant issue today, with such fodder as Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey. However, like Johnson admits, "while readers could be procured, the authors were willing to continue it."