It seems more than a coincidence that the NEA released its most positive-sounding study in years last week, just as controversial chairman Dana Gioia is stepping down. “Reading on the Rise” declares that reading is no longer at risk (as the NEA suggested in 2004) but is, in fact, alive and well and even growing. According to the study, the number of people who did “literary reading” has increased by 16.6 million since 2002—“creating the largest audience in the history of the NEA survey.” While Gioia admits that “there is no statistical answer” to the obvious question—what's changed?—his memo suggests that the programs he and his office put in place were at least partly responsible. The Big Read, for example, in which one city recommends one book for its denizens, spread to nearly 500 communities under his leadership, and he was tireless in getting the press and the public to take note of the NEA's earlier, cautionary studies.
Never mind that one could quibble with some of the data: according to the “Key Findings,” for example, “literary” reading refers to the reading of any novels or short stories, poems or plays, in print or online.” What? No nonfiction? (Surely if narrative nonfiction, memoir and even journalism were included, the number of “literary” readers would be even higher.) Further, if you read the small print (a.k.a. “Data and Methodology”), you see that while the “core questionnaire [which is not revealed] has remained fundamentally consistent for 26 years,” Internet reading was added only in 2008. Still, far be it from me to argue against what seems to be good news for the book business: more people—African-American, Hispanic, white—are reading! Literary reading has increased most rapidly among the youngest adults! (Could that have to do with the Internet?) On a cultural as well as business level, the new NEA survey should give us hope; perhaps reading and books will be on the upswing after all.
Even more important—and probably no less coincidental—is that this news comes just as Barack Obama is about to assume the presidency. Certainly one of our most literate presidents, and arguably the most gifted writer among them, Obama inspires hope that his administration will be “good for books.” His prepping for the enormous job he is about to begin has led to a revival in reading about both Lincoln and FDR—see our cover story this week . What's more, his platform has long acknowledged the importance of the arts in American life. No wonder a consortium of arts associations, from the American Association of Museums to the Literary Network have banded together to present detailed suggestions to the president-elect about how to implement their audacious hopes (see www.artsusa.org); there are even groups calling for a cabinet-level position to address them. And while it's unlikely Obama would go that far, such passion on the part of many of the people who elected him should not go unnoticed.
Yes, most Americans would probably cite employment, housing, the environment and peace in the Middle East as top presidential priorities, and some might say cars are more integral to our culture than great novelists. But we can't even get close to solving those problems if we don't value reading and books. A sustainable American culture of ideas and expression is, after all, what we are trying to save in the first place.
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