Quentin Crisp, Authorial Inscription
In a book by Quentin Crisp that Nick Harvill Libraries once sold, he had amusingly inscribed, "Don't take this book or any book too seriously." That is great advice. Primary school education is of course essential, but it warps our perspective. From the earliest grades, we are taught that because a particular fact is in a book, it is true. That bias never entirely goes away as we mature. And no wonder! How bewildering the world becomes when we learn that truth is relative and rarely fully ascertainable ... that we are standing not on concrete, but quicksand.
Yet, do not despair. A consolation is that falsehoods can be absolute, capable of being proven untrue. We might be standing on quicksand, but at least we do not have to suffocate in it. All that is required is a healthy amount of skepticism.
We, the reading public, should consider ourselves not so different from jurors. That means authors are not judges, but witnesses. Their credibility must be scrutinized. That means delving into the their methodology, proficiency, and motivation as seriously as if justice depended upon it, and, in a general sense, it absolutely does.
Yet, do not despair. A consolation is that falsehoods can be absolute, capable of being proven untrue. We might be standing on quicksand, but at least we do not have to suffocate in it. All that is required is a healthy amount of skepticism.
We, the reading public, should consider ourselves not so different from jurors. That means authors are not judges, but witnesses. Their credibility must be scrutinized. That means delving into the their methodology, proficiency, and motivation as seriously as if justice depended upon it, and, in a general sense, it absolutely does.
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