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Why Literature Still Matters
In this wide-ranging and accessible work, Jason M. Baxter puts our contemporary culture in conversation with literature and its “sister arts” to make the compelling—and sometimes chilling—case not just for the relevance but urgency of the humane tradition as we enter our “digital apocalypse.” Baxter draws on his areas of expertise, Dante and C.S. Lewis; his background in teaching the great books, art history, and music history; as well as his own travel literature to give his readers an almost sensuous feeling for what the alternative to our tech-obsessed culture is.
87 pages, Paperback
Published December 16, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
December 26, 2024
Excellent little book that roars out of the starting gate with the first essay. So much food for thought and discussion in this volume!
January 24, 2025
I'll be thinking about this for a while.
December 27, 2024
The font is almost unreadable which I hope future printings will remedy because this book is gold for everyone, even the ones with slightly old eyes. Despite the issues with font I still gave it 5 stars because it is so brilliant.
December 30, 2024
“[W]hat I find myself wanting is not just to see beauty, but to be beauty, to make that which I see (or hear or read) become a permanent part of my being. I want to make that thing out there something in here. . . . As one of my teachers says, ‘I don’t want just to see beauty, I want to eat it.’”
I was tempted to binge read this book, but I made myself read it slowly. In many ways, this book is a call to slow down. Dr. Baxter explains so well how we have come to view the world (and ourselves) as a machine. That which is efficient, powerful, fast is the kind of thing we find “beautiful.” So when the natural world presents true beauty to us, we miss it entirely, either because we’re too frantic to stop and truly take it in or too busy quantifying the experience for likes and comments on social media.
What literature does for us then is slow us down. It slows time down. As Dr. Baxter notes, literature offers amplification in the proper sense of the word: “not a hyping up, an acceleration of mass, an increase of momentum, but rather the attempt to render a vision ‘full,’ generous, abundant, charged with density, alive beyond any expectation.” In feasting on great books (and I do mean feasting, not merely consuming), we learn how to feast on beauty, true beauty, once again.
I was already convinced that my reading life in 2025 needs to be about slowing down, about savoring my reading, about picking up longer books again, about taking in my books in whatever manner and at whatever pace they deserve. This book felt like confirmation that I’ve chosen the right path and just need to stay the course.
I was tempted to binge read this book, but I made myself read it slowly. In many ways, this book is a call to slow down. Dr. Baxter explains so well how we have come to view the world (and ourselves) as a machine. That which is efficient, powerful, fast is the kind of thing we find “beautiful.” So when the natural world presents true beauty to us, we miss it entirely, either because we’re too frantic to stop and truly take it in or too busy quantifying the experience for likes and comments on social media.
What literature does for us then is slow us down. It slows time down. As Dr. Baxter notes, literature offers amplification in the proper sense of the word: “not a hyping up, an acceleration of mass, an increase of momentum, but rather the attempt to render a vision ‘full,’ generous, abundant, charged with density, alive beyond any expectation.” In feasting on great books (and I do mean feasting, not merely consuming), we learn how to feast on beauty, true beauty, once again.
I was already convinced that my reading life in 2025 needs to be about slowing down, about savoring my reading, about picking up longer books again, about taking in my books in whatever manner and at whatever pace they deserve. This book felt like confirmation that I’ve chosen the right path and just need to stay the course.
January 1, 2025
This beautiful, little book is the first publication from Cassiodorus Press. Let's start with the *little* part: it was the intention of the publisher to provide a 'pocket-size' book that one could slip in his purse, large or small, and have with him wherever he was. The *beautiful* part: I'm going to say one of the things that makes me crazy when people say it of others --- It is 'beautiful inside and out'. Seriously, I usually hate that phrase. It's like I feel guilty for praising your outward appearance, so I've got to get all spiritual. Anyhow, this little book has a beautiful cover, with illustration by young artist Gabriel Chou. The beauty inside is provided by the layout and, of course, Jason Baxter's very poetic way of delivering his ideas.
I had to laugh at some initial criticism by a couple of people about the font size because it actually proved some of Dr. Baxter's points. Here's what I found the font size did for me: I had to slow down. Oh, horrors! Our modern (or post-modern) consumer culture has made us expect things to be smooth and fast. Two things that are illustrated from the start of this beautiful, little book. I could do a whole lot of pointing the finger to other people and our society but could feel that I am complicit also, as I felt compelled to hurry the reading to meet my goal to have it read and reviewed by the end of the weekend in which I received the beautiful, little book in the mail. (I went 3 days past my goal.)
I was particularly struck by how much a high-minded scholar such as Dr. Baxter could be so familiar with contemporary pop culture. When you read his words, it is obvious that these are observations he has made as he goes along with his daily life. He did not go looking for unfamiliar (to him) songs, art, or stories that he could negatively criticize to prove his point --- something that other writers do that comes across laughable and ineffective, like old Senators questioning tech people in hearings about things they haven't a clue about. Because Dr. Baxter lives a life of observation, contemplation, and caring, he comes across as way more authentic than most. His purpose is pure.
Many, many kudos to the staff of Cassiodorus Press for this debut production. I look forward to seeing Angelina Stanford, CP's Founder and Publisher, "among the regal and magnanimous souls on Dante's Jupiter", as Dr. Baxter predicts in his Acknowledgments.
Thank you, Dr. Jason Baxter, for this beautiful, little work, that will be carried about with me in my purse, ready to re-read many, many times. Slowly. Thoughtfully.
I had to laugh at some initial criticism by a couple of people about the font size because it actually proved some of Dr. Baxter's points. Here's what I found the font size did for me: I had to slow down. Oh, horrors! Our modern (or post-modern) consumer culture has made us expect things to be smooth and fast. Two things that are illustrated from the start of this beautiful, little book. I could do a whole lot of pointing the finger to other people and our society but could feel that I am complicit also, as I felt compelled to hurry the reading to meet my goal to have it read and reviewed by the end of the weekend in which I received the beautiful, little book in the mail. (I went 3 days past my goal.)
I was particularly struck by how much a high-minded scholar such as Dr. Baxter could be so familiar with contemporary pop culture. When you read his words, it is obvious that these are observations he has made as he goes along with his daily life. He did not go looking for unfamiliar (to him) songs, art, or stories that he could negatively criticize to prove his point --- something that other writers do that comes across laughable and ineffective, like old Senators questioning tech people in hearings about things they haven't a clue about. Because Dr. Baxter lives a life of observation, contemplation, and caring, he comes across as way more authentic than most. His purpose is pure.
Many, many kudos to the staff of Cassiodorus Press for this debut production. I look forward to seeing Angelina Stanford, CP's Founder and Publisher, "among the regal and magnanimous souls on Dante's Jupiter", as Dr. Baxter predicts in his Acknowledgments.
Thank you, Dr. Jason Baxter, for this beautiful, little work, that will be carried about with me in my purse, ready to re-read many, many times. Slowly. Thoughtfully.
December 30, 2024
I pre-ordered this book to support Dr. Baxter, but I was arrogant enough to believe he’d be preaching to the choir and he wouldn’t have anything new to tell me on this subject. I had forgotten that I’m a modern and Dr. Baxter is a dinosaur—he is to the 21st century what CS Lewis was to the 20th. I was humbled and thankful once again to be able to learn from him. This little book is an invaluable contribution to the conversation that we all need to have on modernity and humanity.
December 27, 2024
Excellent tiny book with tiny font. Great content but some people may need a magnifying glass!
December 25, 2024
Four really fine essays.
"An expectation has gotten into our blood and our bones and our brains that we must constantly and actively seek to amp up our lives."
"An expectation has gotten into our blood and our bones and our brains that we must constantly and actively seek to amp up our lives."
January 8, 2025
“Our response to the whispering voice is the inner core of the literary life” ❤️😭
Dr Baxter took all the unexplained feelings and thoughts about the literary life and laid them out one by one. It really is a book for the reader who wants to know why they feel and think the way they do and the non reader who wants to understand why readers read.
Dr Baxter took all the unexplained feelings and thoughts about the literary life and laid them out one by one. It really is a book for the reader who wants to know why they feel and think the way they do and the non reader who wants to understand why readers read.
January 4, 2025
An uplifting, thought-provoking book that forces you to look at how the world has impacted our ability to read literature, but also shows us what we are missing when we give into the tendency to prefer efficiency to beauty, and consumption to savoring.
Ironically have a phone on hand to look up the music and art he references.
I will also say, the type is much too small and I hope this is remedied in future prints.
"... we are losing the ability to be moved by still things because we are moving too fast to be quiet in front of them."
Ironically have a phone on hand to look up the music and art he references.
I will also say, the type is much too small and I hope this is remedied in future prints.
"... we are losing the ability to be moved by still things because we are moving too fast to be quiet in front of them."
January 1, 2025
A wonderful way to close out a year of reading! I began this book already in agreement with the message that literature, is vitally important, even though we as a culture are losing our ability to appreciate old books. What I wasn’t prepared for is what Dr. Baxter had to say about digital culture (how self-referential we have become, and how digital life flattens our real life experiences) as well as his musings about what is lacking in the messaging of the environmental movement. Mainly, Dr. Baxter underscores the value of (older) living books and the importance of long, leisurely time spent in nature as ways for us to enter into meaningful experiences of Beauty. But for Beauty to move us, we have to first be able to perceive it. That requires slowing down and renewing our own habit of attention. This last one is a convicting point for someone whose life has become increasingly hectic and whose reading life, in particular, has taken a turn toward being one of quantity over quality - or of quality being absorbed (or not) at too quick a pace. Perhaps there’s an invitation there to make 2025 my year of the (slow) re-read…
December 31, 2024
An extraordinary and vital little volume. This will merit several rereads in the near future.
December 27, 2024
So much in such a little book! I enjoyed this first read, but will definitely need to read it again to dig a little deeper. This would be a great book to read alongside a friend and discuss. So much to think about!
January 11, 2025
Fantastic little book. He exams literature as landscape. Now, me, I usually compare it to food, but landscape is a powerful metaphors as well. This man writes poetry as prose in some places, and his relevancy to modern man at times gave me chills. We have, as a society, lost our ability to enjoy the classics for many reasons, one of the most significant being we are moving too fast. I think this book would pair nicely with Fareinheit 451. Or maybe you should read that one first, and then this one.
January 2, 2025
I hope they are able to print a version with a bigger font- it was the tiniest print book I’ve ever seen!
January 3, 2025
Very thought provoking.
January 18, 2025
Beautiful. The last page had me in tears.
January 4, 2025
Such a wonderful little book on the importance of beauty and the longing of our souls for it. Jason Baxter did an amazing job at walking me through classical art, music, and literature where, just when I would start feeling overwhelmed, he would zoom out and explain things in such a way that I could understand and appreciate it. Looking forward to reading this book many more times!
January 7, 2025
Even if one is already firmly convinced that literature does indeed still matter, this book is absolutely worth a read. Dr. Baxter describes an ‘apocalypse of literature’ because of our mechanized culture’s constant need and expectation for amplification. This quote stuck out:
“We are engaged in a deep reading, in which we find our hearts quickened, our spirits moved, and our souls enlarged. Those who are haunted by Joy would never describe their pursuit of the eternal- in prayer, in liturgy, in love, in literature, in music, in painting- as ‘entertainment’; rather, we hunger to eat, what Dante called, ‘the bread of angels’”
“We are engaged in a deep reading, in which we find our hearts quickened, our spirits moved, and our souls enlarged. Those who are haunted by Joy would never describe their pursuit of the eternal- in prayer, in liturgy, in love, in literature, in music, in painting- as ‘entertainment’; rather, we hunger to eat, what Dante called, ‘the bread of angels’”
January 8, 2025
These five stars are for the stillness I heard after reading the final word. That stillness that comes at the end of a symphony, or that stillness that washes over you when you’ve heard truth, even if you don’t yet understand it. The stillness of beauty touching the pool inside you, and you watch the ripples expand and then fade and sink into the depths.
I need to think about these ideas and then come back to this little book.
I need to think about these ideas and then come back to this little book.
January 18, 2025
I really appreciated this book - it put words to feelings I’ve had for a while and validated the sense that newer isn’t always better, that maybe speed and productivity shouldn’t be so highly valued. Though the book was small, Baxter addressed technology, the mechanistic paradigm, an innate need for beauty, the value of space, the need for time, for quiet. His writing was beautiful and full of allusions and images. I enjoyed reading this book but also felt deeply challenged in the reading.
January 19, 2025
Dr. Jason Baxter is one of the great thinkers of our time. I love his ability to weave his together ancient Ithaca to today’s landscape. His writing is profound. It makes you want to enter into literature. I smiled while reading. And then I smiled at my smiling.
January 27, 2025
Short and impactful, this book will encourage any reader on their way to dive deeper, and non-readers could also find the motivation to jump in! Always enjoy Mr Baxter’s writing, lively and thought-provoking at the same time.
December 28, 2024
Fantastic little book that gave me much to think about.
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December 29, 2024The section on selfies and the digital life 🙌🙌
December 31, 2024
The font is too small, but it’s brilliant and will help you to live a fuller and more beautiful life.
January 3, 2025
Excellent. Someone else read this so we can talk about it!
January 26, 2025
Worth reading and definitely one worth discussing with others in an effort to avoid the “apocalypse of the imagination.”
January 28, 2025
Jason gives some unique insights to why literature is important, and how we have gotten to a place where good literature is not read. He gives the consequences of that, with excellent examples.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews