Bookworm Michael Silverblatt on 'Second-Order Illiteracy', Comprehension [Cornell University, 2010]

During a 2010 lecture at Cornell University, American broadcaster Michael Silverblatt (Bookworm, KCRW) discussed an imaginable future filled with "second-order illiterates", i.e. people who have no interest in reading, don't read, won't read, hate reading. He goes on to discuss how second-order illiteracy affects* the role of student and teacher, as well as who we choose as our intellectual authorities on radio and television (e.g. Charlie Rose and Terry Gross).

Silverblatt wrote on the subject in 2006: "The clearing of the fog of incomprehension is the yardstick of growth, every kind of growth: emotional, intellectual, moral, aesthetic, human growth. By now it isn't just one generation of kids that wasn't taught to read, their parents weren't taught either." A new figure has conquered the social stage. This new species is the second-order illiterate," writes Hans Magnus Enzensberger, a brilliant German culture critic, in his essay "In Praise of Illiteracy." "It contributes to the second-order illiterate's sense of well-being that he has no idea that he is a second-order illiterate. He considers himself well-informed; he can decipher instructions on appliances and tools; he can decode pictograms and checks. The ideal medium for the second-order illiterate is television." By now second-order illiteracy has become so common that we elect second-order illiterates to office. Our president is only the most obvious example. Other second-order illiterates seem to identify with and to be consoled by the second-order illiteracy of their leaders. They like direct statement (they learned from that school reader) and have low tolerance for complex argument-really for complexity of any kind.I don't have a solution, but I'll make a deal with you. If you will compromise and admit that you don't hate reading, I promise never to recommend a book that will waste your time. Maybe, gradually, I can persuade you to do good: to help change the way reading is taught in this country. Maybe we can alter our future." (https://www.good.is/articles/michael-...)

Cornell University Department of English Creative Writing Program Reading Series presents an evening with Michael Silverblatt. October 26, 2010

Full lecture:    • Michael Silverblatt speaks at Cornell...