Reading and Living in Uncertainty

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

14 March 2025

Episode 5.07 - Reading and Living in Uncertainty

What do we mean by uncertainty in reading? And why do we have to look for it?

===

Chapters

00:00 Pianos and Birds and Empty Spaces
04:32 Opening Theme
05:13 Fear and Uncertainty and Fuzzy Dice
10:33 Books and Literature and Rubik’s Cubes
16:18 Healthy and Sustained Uncertainty and Ralph Ellison
24:19 Crisis and Volatility and the Role of Literature
32:28 Wondering and Noticing and Talking
35:36 Mailbag: Too Much?
38:05 Closing Shot & Theme

===

Reasons to embrace uncertainty in our reading practice:

Discovery of complex or nuanced messages left by the author
Keeps literature more engaging, interesting, lasting
Allows us to discover new meanings with each visit
Keeps us cognitively human
Builds resilience and agency for meeting real-world volatile changes

The excerpt from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man:

One night, I accidentally bumped into a man, and perhaps because of the near darkness he saw me and called me an insulting name. I sprang at him, seized his coat lapels and demanded that he apologize. He was a tall blond man, and as my face came close to his he looked insolently out of his blue eyes and cursed me, his breath hot in my face as he struggled.

===

https://waywordsstudio.com

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/

What are your thoughts on our discussion? Email me: Steve@waywordsstudio.com

===

Transcript: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-07-reading-and-living-in-uncertainty/

Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/MmhqcGgeLcjCaVK97

Website: https://waywordsstudio.com

Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/

Instagram: @WaywordsStudio

Facebook: Waywords.Studio

YouTube: Waywords Studio

LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio

CREDITS:

Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

USING THIS WORK:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.