This morning I’m complaining about the youth of today. They don’t read. Does anyone know a teenager who reads?
Last weekend, I was in a bookstore, and I heard a 20-something woman say to her mother: Look, here’s Jane Eyre (she pronounced it Ire) by Jane Austen! And I thought: no and no.
I suppose I should at least be happy the young lady was in a bookstore.
Later, I saw the trailer for the movie about Jane Austen’s big romance with some young hunk. Turns out that story is 98% fabrication. Poor old maid Jane never had a hot romance with said young stud, but we won’t let that fact get in the way of spinning a good romance. Nobody wants to hear that Jane died a spinster at age 41. Oh please, you are soooo depressing us!
I’ve gone off topic.
When I was a teenager, my father told me this elaborate joke whose punchline ended up being a pun on a Kipling quote. Never having read any Kipling, I just stared at him and went “Huh?”. I’m sure at that moment he thought civilization was going to hell in a hand basket the same way I do now.
My father died 8 years ago today. Maybe he never recovered from the Kipling incident.
2 comments:
Let me restore the balance - last night I went to see the RSC's production of King Lear with Ian McKellan in the lead - magnificent! And in the interval my friend and I were looking around and remarking on the number of young(er) people there and also, how well dressed they were - they had all put on their best for a big (and bloody expensive) night at the theatre.
On one hand, this comforts me, on the other hand, I know those young'uns were probably there because McKellen played Gandalf in the movies.
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