Comme un roman
Daniel Pennac
Exercising my rights
Like many people who identify as readers, I became aware of Daniel Pennac through his Reader's Bill of Rights:
Les droits imprescriptibles du lecteur :
1. Le droit de ne pas lire.
2. Le droit de sauter des pages.
3. Le droit de ne pas finir un livre.
4. Le droit de relire.
5. Le droit de lire n'importe quoi.
6. Le droit au bovarysme (maladie textuellement transmissible).
7. Le droit de lire n'importe où.
8. Le droit de grappiller.
9. Le droit de lire à haute voix.
10. Le droit de se taire.
I bought Comme un roman in order to see them in their original setting and form. Comme un roman is not just the Reader's Bill of Rights. It contains four booklets
I. Naissance de L'Alchemiste
II. Il Faut Lire
III. Donner à lire
IV. Le qu'en-lira-t-on (ou les droits imprescriptibles du lecteur)
So, naturally I began with L'Alchemiste. I read about half, and it was dull. What's more, I will confess, of the languages I read, French is the weakest, so it was gonna be a significant job to get through this.
Fortunately, my salvation was at hand! I exercised rights 2 and 8 from the list above, skipping ahead to the final booklet, the Bill of Rights.
Each of the ten rights is stated, then followed by an explanation ranging from one to five pages long. These explanations do indeed clarify Pennac's thoughts. For instance, he makes it clear in his explanation of Right 1 that he is not merely stating ones right to cease reading for an afternoon or to refuse to read certain books. He is explicitly defending those people who do not read for pleasure at all. They are fine! They have a right to that. Leave them alone!
"Bovarysme" was honestly a bit of a puzzle to me. In English translations right three is typically given as the "right to escapism", which is a strange interpretation -- do you really think of Madame Bovary as escapist literature? Cuz I sure don't. And when you read his explanation, "escapism" is not really what Pennac is defending here. (To be sure, I feel certain that Pennac would defend a right to escapism.)
Also, I was unfamiliar with the verb "grappiller". In English translation 8 is given as the "right to browse", which is a not inaccurate translation of the right Pennac here explains.
I cannot recommend this very strongly. I think one gets the gist from the Bill of Rights headlines.