I once had an academic paper rejected because I had used the
word "ludic". The peer
reviewer though it was a typo and should have said "lucid". No,
actually. I mean "ludic". It literally means "playful".
When we use the word in connection with reading, we mean something very
specific. If someone is reading "ludically", they no longer see the
marks on the paper and they are no longer aware that they are decoding those
words. They simply see the story playing out as a film in their head.
I experience something similar when I write. I'm no longer
aware that I'm typing the words but I'm just seeing the story unfold in front
of me. In real time. It all happens as fast or as slowly as I'm typing. If
anything, I get even more absorbed in the stories I write than in the ones I
read.
Not everyone has this experience, and those that don't are
often very competent readers and highly intelligent. Is it perhaps something
genetic? However, my grandmother used to harangue me: "Why have you got
that head of yours stuck in a book? You should do something useful with your
hands." I could see her point but
reading was then and remains now my default activity. One of the great joys of
sitting on the beach in the hot sun is that it gives me an opportunity to read.
Holidays mean plenty of time for reading.
I was a high school teacher for 26 years. I encountered very
few children who couldn't read but I also met only a few who actually enjoyed
reading. Investigation revealed that they didn't get beyond the decoding. They were still very conscious of the black
marks on a white background.
I would imagine that everyone reading this blog is a ludic
reader as they are interested in what I write and my observations on the
writing process. Many may also be ludic writers.
I often discuss this with my students. They nod wisely. Yes,
they are student of English, Drama and Creative Writing and they all read and
write ludically.
"Beware of your peers in Newton," I warn.
"They are not all as fortunate as we are. They don't necessarily get those
lovely pictures." Yes, that's right: Maths and Science are taught in our
Newton building.
This was confirmed again when I shared a table with a
scientist at our local village cinema club. This lady had nothing against story
for she enjoyed the film. "I don't get what turns you readers on,"
she said. "All I see are black marks on white paper and holding a book
hurts my arm. I have enough reading to do in the day job."
Victor Nell discusses this in detail in his text Lost in a Book; the psychology of reading for
pleasure.
Cornelia Funke gives us a fictional example in her Inkheart
series; the protagonist's father is capable of reading characters into and out
of books.
Happy reading and writing – ludically if possible.
