Women Who Read Are Dangerous

Saints, even the female ones, are safe with the written word. It's the rest of us who've caused so much concern over so many years.

Reading is an act of friendly isolation. When we are reading, we make ourselves unapproachable in a tactful way. Perhaps that is exactly what has interested painters for so long in the portrayal of readers: showing people in a state of deepest intimacy not intended for outsiders. If the viewer were to approach the reader in real life, this condition would immediately be threatened. So painting allows us to see what we actually cannot see, or see only at the price of destroying it.

With the ability to read, however, there developed new patterns of private behavior that were to threaten the legitimacy of both the Church and secular authorities on a permanent basis. Women who learned to read at that time were considered dangerous. For the woman who reads acquires a space to which she and no one else has access, and together with this she develops an independent sense of self-esteem; furthermore, she creates her own view of the world that does not necessarily correspond with that conveyed by tradition, or with that of men. All this does not yet signify the liberation of women from patriarchal guardianship, but it does push open the door that leads to freedom.

Da leitura resulta a autoconfiança, da autoconfiança resulta a coragem de ter ideias próprias. Os homens não gostam necessariamente de mulheres que lêem.

O amor, admito-o com um suspiro, é muito mais forte que a literatura, porém o amor na literatura é bem mais belo do que na própria vida. Ao menos de vez em quando permite iludirmo-nos.

Even images of reading need to be read.