On re-reading

enhancement or dilution?

I recently re-read Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. I first read this as one of the many texts on the Second World War for my English Literature A-Level.

I hated it. I particularly hated Isabelle. For those that have not yet read it - I won’t spoil it for you but for those who have, all I kept thinking was how could she treat Stephen in this way? This feeling compounded when I watched the BBC adaptation with Eddie Redmayne - how could you do it to Eddie?!

On a recent re-read, my perspective changed. This time, I saw her conflict. I embraced it. The sudden empathy I felt for her character caught between her two loves: her stepchildren and her soulmate engulfed me and changed my reading of the story forever.

An unliterary man may be defined as one who reads books once only…we do not enjoy a story fully at the first reading…it is like wasting great wine on a ravenous natural thirst which merely wants cold wetness”

- C.S. Lewis: On Stories and Other Essays on Literature

That is the beauty of re-reading. Gaining a deeper understanding of the characters, the plot and the little easter eggs you missed the first time around. Nabokov suggests that a re-reading allows one to “notice and fondle” with the text.

A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative reader is a rereader

- Vladminir Nabokobv: Good Readers and Good Writers in Lectures on Literature.

So many of you, on my recent polls here on Substack, Instagram and TikTok, all confirmed your love of re-reading!

Despite the wealth of essays and articles advocating the cognitive benefits of re-reading it’s actually quite difficult to track down any scientific research on the same. The data I stumbled across suggest there is a limited benefit of re-reading, in the short-term, for memory recall and comprehension. This can be enhanced by distributed reading (i.e., spacing out your re-read from your initial read) and pairing a re-read with an active method of retention, like the Feynman Technique.

But could re-reading give you an illusory experience of deeper understanding? You know the story already - are you going to really see or retain anything more second time round? For long-term retention, re-reading alone not enough.

But these studies focus on re-reading as a form of learning and the importance of retention. What about pleasure?

Oscar Schwartz in his Against Rereading essay for The Paris Review, argues that re-reading isn’t really reading. His reasoning is based on the dwindling impact of a re-read. The first time you read a book, you completely surrender to the text. This, he says, you cannot replicate. Quoting Freud’s “novelty is the condition of enjoyment”. Schwartz reveres the first read to an almost sacred experience - one that cannot be repeated.

So why re-read if there is a risk that it will dilute the impact of the first read?

My experience of re-reading Birdsong shows how depending on your mood, stage of life and experience your understanding and interpretation of a story can differ widely and so can its impact. The nostalgia of re-reading a well-loved book provides an element of comfort. Like making your favourite pasta dish. You know it’s going to be scrumptious - so why not make it again?

What side of the re-reading debate do you sit on? Enhancement or dilution?

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