April 23 is the annual World Book Day.
When I talk about reading, I am reminded of Maugham's wise saying: "Cultivating the habit of reading can build you a refuge from almost all the sorrows of the world." ”
This quote comes from Maugham's collection of essays, "Reading is a refuge to carry with you".
In the book, he shares his reading methods and experiences, and also digs deep into the stories behind 11 literary giants.
After reading this book, I realized that under the shining aura of the writers, there is a bitter past that no one knows.
In order to make a living, they have to struggle on the edge of misery and endure the swords and shadows of life.
In order to survive, they bandage the wounds of fate while looking for healing power in books.
Their experiences tell us:
In this world, there is no one whose life is not hard, and only books are the paradise that nourishes the soul.
1
As a human being, no one can escape the cage woven by suffering
Before Maugham became famous, he had an unfortunate experience.
He originally had a happy childhood, his father was a lawyer, and his mother was a well-known beauty.
However, when he was eight years old, his mother died in childbirth, and two years later, his father also died.
Maugham had to be sent to his uncle's house for foster care, and the life under the fence made him bitter since he was a child.
He was small in stature, stuttered, and was ridiculed and bullied at school.
He was like a child abandoned by the world, silent, alone, and spent a miserable and lonely childhood.
In the book, Maugham still recalls that experience: "I was a sad child in my childhood, and I often dreamed night after night, and my life at school was also a dream. But I still haven't completely shaken off the feeling that life is a dream. ”
Maugham's life was soaked in bitterness, and the situation of other writers was not much better.
Dostoevsky was born into a family of doctors, but his father was an alcoholic and treated his children harshly.
Dostoevsky also suffered from epilepsy and was even more mistreated as a result.
When he grew up, his fate was also full of twists and turns.
In 1849, he was sentenced to exile in Siberia for his involvement in opposition to the Tsar, and after his release, his life was devastated.
His wife and brother died one after another, and the burden of his brother's family's life fell on him, and the huge financial pressure directly brought him to the brink of bankruptcy.
In order to make a living, he had to write novel after novel and support his family with the manuscript fee he had advanced.
He is like a person who is pushed by money, coding words day and night, passively and desperately living.
Maugham commented in his book: "Between this indifferent and unforgiving world, we are inevitably surrounded by all kinds of sinisters from birth to death. ”
The book mentions that many writers are facing their own life dilemmas.
The three Charlotte sisters, who are known as the miracles of the British literary world, had to become nurseries early in order to support themselves;
When Dickens was 12 years old, his father sent him to work in a toner factory in order to get rid of his burden.
Flaubert was disabled in a car accident and had to carry a drain line for the rest of his life, and he was no longer able to drink or eat meat.
Behind the aura of these writers, there is a hidden pain that no one knows.
And what happened to them is not a true portrayal of ordinary people?
Existential stress, economic crisis, illness and suffering...... Like ropes, woven into a cage that is difficult to destroy.
Trapped tightly, we are like prisoners under house arrest, unable to break free.
can only use all your strength in the dense net, to live for the sake of living.
2
Reading is a portable refuge
Martin Walzer said: "Even if I am free, I cannot escape my cage, and literature can be the door to freedom." ”
Life is short, and when we only focus on suffering, people will sink into suffering and magnify suffering.
Only by shifting our attention to optimistic and positive things will our destiny turn around.
And reading is the best way to change your life.
In the book, Maugham recounts how he got involved with reading.
At that time, he was wronged, and often hid in his uncle's study for a day.
My uncle's study was filled with all kinds of books, travelogues, biographies, classical novels......
When he opened the book, he was fascinated by the beautiful illustrations and bizarre stories.
He immersed himself in the sea of books and gradually forgot the troubles of life.
In a childhood without love, books gave him the greatest comfort and slowly mended his wounded heart.
And the accumulation of reading also gave him a rich knowledge reserve, which laid the foundation for him to become a writer later.
The same is true of Flaubert, who walked through his wounds through reading.
Faced with a series of blows, a helpless Flaubert locked himself in his home and passed the time with books.
In the book, Gao Jie's thoughts diluted the dark clouds accumulated in his heart, and also diverted the pain caused by illness, giving him the courage to face difficulties.
Speaking about the strength that reading has given him, he said:
The only way to endure life is to indulge in literature, like endless indulgence.
Every time you are disappointed in life, you can pin your thoughts on a noble character, pure feelings and happiness, and you can masturbate.
Behind every book is another life.
If you look at too many joys and sorrows, you will know that everyone is enduring unknown pain.
Reading may not be able to help you get out of trouble directly, but one day, there will be a sentence or a story that will make you instantly enlightened and healed.
When recommending Maugham's book, Luo Xiang said:
"Although I don't want to admit it, this world is not beautiful, we will often see many sad, angry and absurd things, and reading can make people forget the reality of the fly camp dog, inspired by the predecessors to have the strength and courage to face the script of life calmly. ”
Being born as a human being, every day of life, is so difficult.
The heavy pressure of life, the dark and tortuous human nature, we are in it, and there is no escape.
And when a book is opened, it's like entering a safe haven, isolating us from the harsh reality.
No one can be as sincere and understand you as well as in books.
Even if you are poor and suffering, even if everyone doesn't like you.
Books will be quietly by your side, with you never abandoned, sharing joys and sorrows.
Help you regain the warmth of the world and promote a fearlessness against suffering.
Even if reality is cold and unforgiving, you can give birth to a force and live steamingly.
3
The books you read will become the way up
Maugham mentions in the book that Wuthering Heights is a wild work of romanticism.
Emily, the writer, uses her rich imagination and strong passion to elevate the novel to insurmountable heights.
However, many people can't help but wonder: "How can a person who is withdrawn and eccentric, who has never left the countryside, write such a huge work?"
Maugham explained that Emily was eccentric, withdrawn, intolerant, and angry.
The sisters are all sociable, but Emily has none of her friends.
The adults didn't like her, and the sisters didn't like her, and even deliberately alienated her.
She had to go alone, taking reading as a habitat for her soul.
She was well-read, to the point of obsession.
Even when she was kneading the dough, she would look up and glance at the book in front of her from time to time.
While doing housework, inspiration suddenly came, and she stopped what she was doing and recorded them.
After reading the books in the house, Emily tried to borrow books to read.
The loneliness left by the world to her, she filled it with reading, and in the end she lived alone as a team.
In her heart, she has used books to form a heart-wrenching world of love and hate, and has achieved a magnificent "Wuthering Heights".
Zhou Guoping said: "If a person has a habit of reading, he will also have a special vision of the world, and even have a colorful world that belongs to him." ”
Even if you don't leave your home, books can take you to all corners of the world.
It may not allow you to be rich and glorious, but one day, you suddenly find that your fragile and empty heart has thousands of hills and valleys.
If you read more books, your cognition and mentality will also change subtly.
Open historical readings such as "Zizhi Tongjian" and "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli", and in the vast historical process, watching the war and the change of dynasties, you will release yourself from the persistent ego and have a broader thinking.
After reading famous books such as "Crime and Punishment" and "Faust", you will better understand human nature, look down on human nature, and live your own life.
If you read more philosophical books such as "Montaigne's Essays" and "Meditations", you will have more thoughts on life, so that you can cherish the present and live better.
If you read more "Zhuangzi" and "Tao Te Ching", you will have more practice and transparency in complex interpersonal relationships.
Zhou Ling said: "Reading is the lowest cost, to obtain the highest level of growth strategy, it is the best way for everyone to improve themselves." ”
Reading is the lowest-cost way to see the world, and we are between the title pages of the ink, through the past and the present.
Reading may not be immediately effective, but it will definitely give you something back at some point in the future.
Reading is also the best way to rise, and every book we have read will raise the latitude of our life and transform it into wisdom and pattern invisibly.
Even if we are in the corner of fate, we will have an inexhaustible stream of faith, break through the encirclement of suffering, and find the turning point of fate.
4
The highest level of reading is "joyful" reading
Maugham believed that "the only purpose of life is the pursuit of pleasure." ”
The same goes for reading.
He said that reading books will not teach you the ability to make a living, but it will make your soul live more fully.
Reading is a spiritual pleasure, and when we immerse ourselves in it, it is like entering a beautiful audio-visual journey.
Maugham summed up his years of experience and shared a few of his reading tips in the book, which I summarized and shared with you.
1. Mentality: Reading is not a comparison.
First of all, Maugham believed that reading was not a noble thing.
Therefore, it is not necessary to read books with the feeling of being nobler than others, let alone blindly following those obscure books.
Reading is for self-please, not for comparison.
If you feel that you are superior to others in reading, or show off your own level, it is against the original intention of reading.
2. Selected reading: True reading is to listen to the inner voice.
Maugham said, "You are the final judge of the value of the books you read." ”
No matter how critics define it or scholars tout, you don't have to read a book that you don't like.
Maugham mentions in his book that there is a book called "Adam Bede", which he didn't like when he opened it, but because the book was highly rated, he had to force himself to read it.
As a result, the reading process was very difficult and tiring, and the moment he finished reading, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He used experience to tell us that if you can't read a book, it's better to put it down.
The real reading is to start from the heart and choose the kind of books that you don't want to put down when you read them.
Only by reading the books we like can we be motivated to explore and be nourished by our interests.
3. Skip reading: For books with strong stories, you can choose to skip reading.
Maugham pointed out, "If a smart reader can learn to skip reading, then he can read quickly and efficiently." ”
Of course, choose what kind of books you want to read.
He said that although "Reminiscences of the Past" is very exciting, some parts are very protracted.
If you choose to skip the boring and lengthy parts and read the core parts that are dedicated to the plot of the novel and the story of the characters, you will be able to quickly navigate the whole book.
The essence of each book accounts for about 20%-30%, and if you learn to skip reading, it will definitely greatly improve the efficiency of reading.
4. Intensive reading: It is a pity to miss some content.
Maugham said: "Intensive reading depends on what kind of masterpiece it is. ”
For some difficult works, only by boldly studying them can we enjoy the pleasure of reading.
Like "Pride and Prejudice" and "Madame Bovary", the plot is tight and literary, and it is difficult to appreciate the essence of them without carefully tasting them.
For his favorite writers, Maugham should not only read masterpieces, but also read writers' biographies, and analyze the writer's personality, experience and background.
Using the intensive reading method, Maugham gained a comprehensive understanding of both the work and the writer.
That's why we can see the images of flesh-and-blood writers in this book, which are about to come out.
5. Extensive reading: Read four or five books at the same time.
Maugham found that it made more sense to read five or six books at the same time.
Because everyone's mental state is different every day, it is more suitable to read different books at different times.
In the morning, when his mind is active, Maugham likes to read philosophical and scientific books to make it easier to remember;
After his busy work, he likes to read history, essays, novels, etc., which makes his mood relaxed;
At night, before going to bed, he would lie in bed and read some poems and so on to relax his mind.
However, everyone's reading habits are different, and we only need to find the most efficient method according to our personal rhythm and preferences.
6. Output: Make reading efficient.
Maugham wrote: "I was looking for a book like this that would answer all the troubled questions once and for all." ”
So, he studied from classical philosophy to modern philosophy, and finally found that he could never find such a complete and satisfactory book.
After searching for nothing, he began to write his own book.
Organize notes, share discussions, and write knowledge and experience into articles.
Although the book I wrote seems to be patchwork, it is the book that best meets my ideals.
Only through the output can the reading results be efficiently transformed.
When the output and input form a closed loop, those rigid book knowledge will be integrated and internalized to become our unique knowledge system.
▽
In his book, Maugham said:
Today, when we are fortunate to have public libraries and cheap versions, there is no entertainment cheaper than the price of reading a book. Cultivating the habit of reading is to create a shelter for yourself to escape almost all the sorrows of life.
People live for a lifetime, and there is more suffering and less happiness.
When we are stuck and confused, we are accustomed to looking outward, trying to rely on money and material things to build our place to solve our worries.
However, shiny foreign objects are like alcohol anesthetics, which can only relieve the pain, but cannot cure the accumulated depression and lingering anxiety.
Only books, like a trickle of clear water, soothes the panic in our hearts in the silent moisturizing things;
It is also like a good medicine, curing the foolish heart, and finally taking us from cramped to open.
On the occasion of World Book Day, I hope you will treat every day in the future as a reading day, swim in the vast sea of books, and meet more beauty in reading.
Finally, I summarized Maugham's book list from "Reading is a Portable Refuge" and shared it with you.
Author: Insight Apron Scholar