Reading is Dangerous
Apr 02, 2025 05:23

When her daughter announced that she intended to learn to read, Rum Godden wrote this letter to her:

You see, when you learn to read you will be born again into another world and it is a pity to be born again so young. I should put off reading, if I were you. As soon as you learn to read you will not see anything again quite as it is. It will all the time be altered by what you have read and you will never be quite alone again. I should stay by yourself a bit longer if I were you.

Rume Godden, Rungli-Rungliot (1943)