In the Vineyard of the Text
* Book: Ivan Illich. In the Vineyard of the Text.
URL =
Description
Louise Perry:
"It’s an incredible book with some of the most significant and esoteric insights I've discovered in recent memory.
It’s about a 12th century monk—Hugh of Saint Victor—the man who invented reading as we think of it today.
The story of St. Hugh basically shows that bookish reading — the serious, reflective engagement with text that we love and esteem today — was invented as a form of communion with God. And I’m not talking about Scripture, I mean the secular pursuit of knowledge.
The particular magic of reading that people still feel today—whether they are religious or not—has a very specific and technical character. Serious reading is uniquely, almost unreasonably powerful mentally and emotionally because it is, in fact, communing with God. Screened media is quite different, as Illich explains, also for precise reasons."
(email newsletter, February 2025)