I am on the hunt for scenes - indeed entire movies - in which we
watch someone reading a book. We must be staring *because* of the
very fact that they are reading; it's not interesting if they might as well
be knitting or doing Rubik's cube. The moment I'm most curious about
is the coming to the novel's end: the book is spent and the
communion with Literature complete - what happens then? I've never
witnessed this in another myself (and for want of security camera
footage I guess I've never seen what faces *I* pull also). People
reading books on the tube are always on pages 55-56, or
thereabouts.
To be clear, I'm looking for the book equivalent of Anna Karina reeling
from Joan of Arc in Vivre sa Vie; or else I'm looking for the film version
of the parts of Calvino's 'If on a winter's night a traveller' where the
writer gets all goosebumpy spying on a girl absorbed in reading
(could it be *his* words the girl's gaze caresses?).
Instances of such scenes in literature and other arts would also be of
interest.
Any guidance in locating such scenes would be massively
appreciated.
Jonathan.
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