Is Novel Reading Waste Of Time?

599 Words3 Pages
Is novel reading a waste of time. Generally speaking the practice of novel reading is good or bad according to circumstances. There is indeed a class of licentious novel, the reading of which can only produce injurious effects. But leaving these out of consideration, we may say that excessive indulgence in the reading of novels is a good works may be a good way of pleasantly and profitably whiling away a few of our leisure hours. That excessive indulgence even in good novels may seriously interfere with educational progress will be apparent, if we consider for a moment the distinguishing characteristic of novels in general, and of good novels in particular. Novels are fictitious stories intended to give pleasure for the reader by the interesting nature of the events narrated, and of the characters who take part in the action. Those novels are generally considered best which most powerfully absorb our interest so that we can scarcely lay aside the book until we have read it right through from the beginning to the end. To do this we may take five or six hours, during we are to a large extend blind and deaf to all that is going on around us, and omit to perform the ordinary duties of life. The student, who reads a novel when he ought to be working, not only neglects to learn his lesson, but at the same time learn idle habits, Nor is he case much better if he devotes most of his legitimate leisure hours to reading fiction. The interest of many novels is so intense that it exhausts the brain even more than study. After an hour or two of recreation in the open air we return to our studies refreshed and vigorously; after the same time devoted to an exciting work of fiction, we are not much more capable of brain-work than we should have been if we had gone on studying continuously without any interval. These remark, however, only apply to immoderate
Open Document