Read a diary ()

Author: (Canada) Alberto Manguel, translated by Yang Lixin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Alberto Manguel is a private reader. A Reading Diary is a crystallization of the author's thoughts, associations, and memories recorded in diary form from June 2002 to May 2003, in which he "loved deeply and for a long time" and "revisited word by word with the power of the mind" works such as Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote from Spain, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Affinity from Germany, H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau from the United Kingdom, Rudyard Kipling's Gunga Din, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, andFran?ois-René de Chateaubriand's Memoirs from Beyond the Grave from France, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale from Canada, Dino Buzzati's The Tartar Steppe from Italy, and Sei Shōnagon's The Pillow Book from Japan, among others. In addition to these works, the diary form allows the author to remain faithful to the rich feelings and endless associations he experienced while reading, freely and fluidly recording the of a thoughtful and sensitive reader's mind. Due to the author's broad cultural perspective and deep reading experience, characters, plots, landscapes, a single sentence, or even a single word in the works often evoke his profound thoughts, while domestic life and travel experiences also stir his rich historical memories. The author seems to pick them up effortlessly, bringing to the reader the political ideals of ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, the story of Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly from China, the life insights of an Iraqi poet, the picaresque novel Tom Sawyer, Baudelaire's poetry, the transformed Gregor Samsa in Kafka's works, and land surveyors, all rushing before the reader's eyes. This scattered perspective yet all-encompassing style gives readers a sense of being surrounded by pearls and jewels, with beauty beyond compare. Meanwhile, the author's recollections of his childhood and descriptions of his interactions with Borges and other friends evoke the fading dust of long-lost memories, bringing a sense of historical and intimacy, leaving readers moved.
Alberto Manguel, the author of this book, is a renowned Canadian novelist, translator, literary critic, and publisher. This book is his latest work following A History of Reading. The tranquil and rustic pastoral life has made Manguel a Don Juan who navigates the vast ocean of books, following the call of his heart. He spent a year revisiting twelve of his beloved literary classics and expressed his life reflections through the interplay between the pages of the books and the world beyond. Throughout the book, we often feel the author's deep love for nature and humanity, his concern for public events, and his strong sense of social justice. The central themes of the book include reflections on the roots of racial hatred, unease about the of human ambition due to technological development, and critiques of authoritarian and tyrannical regimes in history and reality. His the major issues in the real world.
Thus, Manguel chooses to resist fate through reading, upholding the right of intellectuals to question history, reality, and life.