Mortimer Adler was a 20th-century philosopher and educator. He is most known for launching the modern Great Books of the Western World program, along with John Erskine and Robert Hutchins. One of his most popular books, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, gives tips on how to read the Great Books. The guide places much of its focus on nonfiction works, but a chapter of the book is dedicated to imaginative literature.
The reading list for the Young Wanderers is exclusively imaginative literature, and parents are given tips to guide their children in deeper reading of the works of fiction following Adler's advice.
Ultimately, reading imaginative literature is meant to be a joyous experience. The aim of fictional writing is to please readers by communicating an experience they can have and enjoy only by reading. But, according to Adler, there is skill involved in reading imaginative literature. To fully appreciate the experience an author sets out to provide, and to clear away whatever stops a reader from feeling as deeply as possible while reading, Adler outlines rules for reading great literary art well.
According to Adler, at the end of a work of imaginative literature, the reader ought to be able to answer one central question: What do I like about this book and why do I like it? The most succinct and honest answer to this question, Adler maintains, is achieved by following these rules for reading imaginative literature. If any of these rules are unachievable, Adler asserts, the writer has not done his or her job.
Tips for How to Read Imaginative Literature
Below is a brief list of the rules Adler lays out in his book:
Embrace the effect that a work of imaginative literature has on you.
Discover how the whole story is constructed out of all its parts.
Be able to follow the plot as it unravels and understand how things came to be and why they are happening.
Grasp the unity of the work as a whole.
Criticize a work of fiction by studying what is within the story, not by the standards of truth and consistency that properly apply to nonfiction works that communicate knowledge.
Criticize imaginative literature only after you have fully appreciated what the author has tried to make you experience.
Again, enjoying a work of imaginative literature is of the utmost importance, and ought to be the primary purpose for reading fiction. Adler’s tips, and subsequently, the tips provided to caregivers of Young Wanderers, are just that: tips. They are offered as a suggested means to ensure children are fully able to appreciate the stories, poems, and plays included in the reading program and revel in the world that the author has created for them.