TR on Reading Fiction for Personal Improvement
June 1, 2009 3 Comments
The American President that most fascinates and inspires me is Theodore Roosevelt. I’ve read several biographies, the best of which is by Texas A & M historian H. W. Brands. I also enjoy collections of TR’s essays and letters.
In a letter to his son Kermit, written from the White House February 3, 1906, the President reveals something of the way he viewed fiction:
Dear Kermit:
I agree pretty well with your views of David Copperfield. Dora was very cunning and attractive, but I am not sure that the husband would retain enough respect for her to make life quite what it ought to be with her. This is a harsh criticism and I have known plenty of women of the Dora type whom I have felt were a good deal better than the men they married, and I have seen them sometimes make very happy homes. I also feel as you do that if a man had to struggle on and make his way it would be a great deal better to have someone like Sophie. Do you recollect the dinner at which David Copperfield and Traddles were, where they are described as seated at the dinner, one “in the glare of the red velvet lady’ and the other “gloom of Hamlet’s aunt”? I am so glad you like Thackeray. “Pendennis” and “The Newcomes” and “Vanity Fair” I can read over and over again.
If TR felt he could read such titles by Thackery over and over again, it is because he did. Thackery is mentioned in many of his letters. Here the father takes pleasure in a shared enthusiasm with his son. And why is he so pleased with the boy’s reading predilections? Apparently because of the power fiction has to form character, to provoke thought about values and truth, and to encourage wise decisions in life.
Evidence for this dominates the quotation. Notice that TR is, in effect, counseling his son about choices in marriage. He is very subtle in this.
It’s pleasing to see that this accomplished public figure had such a relationship with his children that he would write about such things in his letters from the White House.
From the quoted portion of Roosevelt’s letter to Kermit, there is much of positive value to glean:
- He takes time for his children in the midst of major official responsibilities.
- He writes in a slow, reflective pace.
- He guides by example.
- He engages his son in discussion of ideas and values on the basis of a shared interest.
- He shows genuine enthusiasm for great literature outside his range of responsibilities.
- He exemplifies a manner of reading fiction that is directed by the desire to grow in wisdom.
- He advises the young without preaching at them in any condescending fashion.
- He regards his son as a peer in the realm of ideas.
- He looks for points of contact between the fictional characters he meets with in reading and living individuals he knows personally.
It’s enough to make you want to go back and read David Copperfield, and check out the works he cites by William Thackeray.
William Makepeace Thackery, Painted by Sir John Gilbert
Works mentioned in this post:
- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
- William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis
- William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes
- William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair
Kindle users should know that there is a Kindle collection of over 100 of Thackery’s publications (including the three mentioned in this post) that you can get with a single purchase (cost: $4.79 at the time of this post). Click here. I like the Kindle!
The quotation is from page 80 in The Letters and Lessons of Theodore Roosevelt for His Sons, edited and compiled by Doug Phillips.
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Hi Phillip,
I agree with your assessment. He was brilliant. I would imagine that many modern presidents don’t read as much in four years.
Time is perceived differently now, unavoidably so. There’s a lot more rushing, and leisure is rare. I mean real leisure that is wisely invested.
-Doug
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Roosevelt was of that almost vanished breed – a man of the Renaissance.
He was quite extraordinary. Think only of the (putative) fact that he read two to three books a day even when president, and that he wrote forty-six books.
Where did he find the time?
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Doug,
Thanks for posting this. I really like the example set by TR described in this post. I find that discussing literature of low quality is helpful as well. For example, 2 of our daughters have read the Twilight series, and we’ve discussed with them how incredibly unrealistic the relationship between Edward and Bella is, and the myths about romantic love that it embodies. Now I’m interested in reading a bit about the life of TR!
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