“The moment someone keeps an eye on what we do, we involuntarily make allowances for that eye, and nothing we do is truthful. Having a public, keeping a public in mind, means living in lies…”
Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
I used to see reading as one of those acts I would do purely for myself - a private act, untouched by the gaze of others. But even reading has become a kind of performance, a way of curating a persona, signaling not just who I am, but more likely who I wish to be perceived as. I particularly pick out the books that receive the prestigious, visible spot on my bedside table before having guests over. The fact that one book is more aesthetically pleasing than another makes me a lot more likely to pick it as my next read. Even the act itself takes on a performative quality: the artful placement of a book on a café table, the subtle awareness of how I must look while reading, as if viewed through the eyes of a passing stranger.