I came across an article in the New York Times this weekend titled “A Neurologist’s Tips to Protect Your Memory.” Dr. Richard Restak is a bestselling author on the mind and on memory. One of his tips is to…
Read more novels.
One early indicator of memory issues, according to Dr. Restak, is giving up on fiction. “People, when they begin to have memory difficulties, tend to switch to reading nonfiction,” he said.
Over his decades of treating patients, Dr. Restak has noticed that fiction requires active engagement with the text, starting at the beginning and working through to the end. “You have to remember what the character did on Page 3 by the time you get to Page 11,” he said.
I told my Chinese teacher about my aim to build a three-sentence a week 红楼梦 reading habit. She suggested I could try to read the book in translation first. I found the translation by David Hawkes.1 The New York Times article prompted me to set aside some time over the weekend to get into it. I for one worry about my memory quite a lot. I came across this translated passage from Chapter 1, which connected back to the New York Times article very nicely.
My only wish is that men in the world below may sometimes pick up this tale when they are recovering from sleep or drunkenness, or when they wish to escape from business worries or a fit of the dumps, and in doing so find not only mental refreshment but even perhaps, if they will heed its lesson and abandon their vain and frivolous pursuits, some small arrest in the deterioration of their vial forces….
Story of the Stone Chapter 1, David Hawkes
Refreshment is all the more refreshing when it is preceded by a bit of work. The refreshment from reading one sentence at a time can feel a bit mild at times. Reading the translated work is an easier pleasure. The combination of fast and slow refreshments may work to keep me moving along.
http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/features.php?searchterm=019_vale_hawkes.inc&issue=019