Eight years ago this week, I wrote about the idea that reading is a conversation between a writer and a reader.
Looking back at my copy of Christopher Marlowe’s ‘Edward II‘, I think the evidence is quite compelling. Those different colours of ink record different versions of me encountering the same text at different points in my life: student, teacher, returning reader, and (apparently) increasingly enthusiastic marginal commentator.
The text hasn’t changed. I have.
I like that as a way of thinking about why we return to old books. We don’t necessarily come back to discover that we were wrong before; we come back carrying different questions, experiences and preoccupations, and the conversation starts again.
And, having not taught ‘Edward II’ for a few years, I’ve suddenly found myself wanting to pick it up again.
This time, as a reader revisiting an old favourite.
The only question is: will I manage to read it without a pen in my hand?
Over to you: tell me about a text you re-read frequently, or have annotated more than once.
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