Let's be honestGreat literature can be a little dry. The worlds into which we are thrust can be mundane, difficult to navigate and filled with characters to whom we find it difficult to connect. ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz... But wait! Study the context first; understand where the story is coming from and going ... and suddenly it becomes a much richer, more exciting journey that can be fulfilling and life-defining. Life-defining textsA colleague once asked me to name my life-defining texts. They were:
As you can see, this is not my list of most entertaining books, though the pleasure and value of these books has long outlasted the actual reading of them. This is the list of places I've visited and the tour guides who invited me into their literary worlds and shaped my life in ways my parents and friends could not. I entered the world of Tuck Everlasting and learned that some things are just more important than love and immortality, and that it is the deeds we do in life that make us immortal and valued. Down and Out... shaped my socio-political values, challenging and eroding my middle-class, right-wing upbringing by transporting me to the world of poverty where I could gain a whole new perspective and understanding. In fact, everything from Orwell taught me that there is no such thing as a simple solution to a complex problem. House of Mirth transported me into the world of New York in the 1890's to teach me about self-sabotage, the restrictive reality of traditional gender and class rules and that we cannot always avoid who we are. Heart of Darkness taught me about the transmutation of experience and the thinly masked baser self that exists within us by taking me to a primitive landscape with men who struggled to withstand its attack on their civilised veneer. Shelley was my tour guide through the alternately miserable and uplifting landscapes of Frankenstein to see that man is more than skin and bone and to teach me to fight against empiricists and rationalists and to ask not, "Can we?" but "Should we?". She has shaped my perspectives on cloning, language testing and any form of pseudo-scientific method applied the distinctively human questions. And finally, The Art of Travel took me all over the world and back again to give me permission to draw and express myself artistically, no matter how horribly, in the quest to capture and live in the moment. These are just a few of the valuable lessons I have learned about how to live. These tours through other worlds, approaching life through the perspectives of others, real and imagined, have shaped who I am. They have been a stronger influence on my identity than my parents, religion or formal education. I take my hat off to those of you who genuinely look forward to and enjoy reading great literature. Your journey to enlightenment will be so much faster than mine. To the rest of you. Read. Just read. Read what you love... and every now and then ... read something that transports you out of your comfortable pleasure-zone to a place that challenges your mind and spirit and makes you wiser, stronger and more capable of living a life that is both fulfilling and responsible. These literary worlds into which you are travelling are not 'boring' or 'too hard'. They're genuine adventures, like trekking the Kokoda Trail or crossing the Sahara. They may not always be comfortable, but they will be worthwhile. And, one day, far from now, you'll be able to reflect on these journeys and the ways they made you, you and you'll wish you could have been a great writer whose legacy lives on far beyond the 'real' world of his or her existence.
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AuthorElizabeth Giles is a teacher and learner of English. I don't profess to be an expert. Is there really such a thing? These are my thoughts. ArchivesCategories |