My grandfather - who immigrated from Yorkshire, England to the U.S. in his twenties - taught me to love British literature before I knew what he was doing. It was his library, in which I found Kipling, Dickens, the Bronte sisters, and Austen, but also his birthday and Christmas gifts. Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Garden, Great Expectations, The Jungle Stories, Green Mansions, How Green was my Valley. Simply typing those titles takes me back to being curled up in his library's leather chair, enchanted and reading the afternoon away.
I longed to be an English major, and looked longingly at people in the library reading Charlotte's Web while I struggled with large heavy anatomy and physiology books to become a nurse. But I made my way back eventually to medical editing and writing:) in something called plain language. My son chose English as a major at a large public university and an MFA in poetry. I think that may have all been to be a better song writer. Both my sons were avid readers, but now seem afflicted by the ADPD: attention deficit phone disorder :):) It is weird at my age that I seem to have the longest attention span in the family, and that may have been helped by reading (something other than a phone)
I was an English Literature Major in college, graduated in 1972. I think that reading fiction does increase empathy, as well as appreciation of the beauty of language.
Thank you for this interesting newsletter. I just was reading about a medical school professor that teaches literature ( including Chekhov and Lorrie Moore) to increase empathy in med students. I remember reading that reading fiction does increase your empathy because you learn to see things from another point of view.
My mother was a high school English teacher. My grandmother owned a bookstore and I watched her read and write almost daily for as long as I could rememver. My high school English teacher was the teacher whose class lots of us ask to be transferred out of. My mother, who taught that English class where I was a student said, basically, "no way are you changing teachers!" Today, I manage a bookstore and read and write daily. And, I'm thankful for the love of reading and writing that was/is imprinted on my soul. Yes, I love literature!!
I was an English major. It was the first time I got to study what I loved and was around other people who loved it, too. One thing that always fascinated me about it is how stories capture history, language, culture, religion, philosophy, the human experience. It's beautiful. I learned how to think critically about life from literature.
I totally related to James Marriott’s essay. I have built my life around this faith too. I feel very isolated and sad at witnessing its demise. I don’t know how to live my life fully in this post-literature world.
As a retired English teacher for 33 years, how can I not love this topic??? Literature will always be one of my greatest loves. Below is a piece I wrote over 25 years ago with my students in a writing-workshop assignment on the topic of beauty. The sentiment is still true, and literature will always be beautiful and cool in my book. ❤
For the Love of Words
I am in love with words. Yes, words. This affair started when I was in 2nd grade and wrote my first poem. From then on, I have always loved to write and read. Words have such power over our lives and truly affect us. And I agree with Rudyard Kipling when he says, “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Words have the power to change us and are a source of beauty in my life.
A favorite childhood rhyme goes like this, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” What nonsense! Words can and do hurt. Conversely, they can also heal and inspire. They can build up or break down a relationship. They can start a war or end a romance. They can motivate men to action or to complacency. Words have such power over us that I think as humans we often overlook their influence in our lives. How many times have we been moved by a song, a commercial, a letter, or even a poem? Probably more times than we care to admit. The magic of language is truly a human phenomenon.
In another life, I probably would have been a linguist. I love to savor the language and feel words slide off my tongue. I actually have fun looking up a word’s etymology and find the variety of language patterns used quite fascinating. When you think about it, the fact that we, as humans, came up with an alphabet -- a symbolic code for the spoken word -- is truly mind boggling. And then to think how we use that symbolic code to communicate is also awe inspiring. Without a doubt, I believe man’s greatest invention is the alphabet.
I definitely am an “English” person. I’m one of those people who will remember what you said and how you said it, far more than what you were wearing or what you looked like. In fact, I have this eccentric habit of recopying poems, quotes, or sayings that I like. I must have thousand upon thousands of these “snippets.” Some are haphazardly thrown in folders, neatly written in journals, or well organized in my “quote” file on the computer. What I’m going to do with all of these words, I have no idea. But every now and then I like to read and linger over these sayings, mainly for relaxation and inspiration. I guess one of these days I think they’ll come in handy when I write my “great American novel” -- one of my dreams that began so long ago when I first fell in love with the written world.
Words are beautiful and when used well, they can be gorgeous! Words can move us to dance, sing, or even cry. After all, how many of us have gotten a little choked up from a sappy Hallmark commercial or when the dogs -- Old Dan and Little Ann -- died in Where a Red Fern Grows? And I wonder how many wars were prevented and relationships started because of some kind words spoken. Until we all learn the true power of words, as a species we will continue to resort to “sticks and stones” as a way to solve our conflicts. Yes, words are the most powerful drug ever created and used by man.
As you allude to, "mere facts" and "mysteries" do not build a dichotomy but rather a spectrum. When we look back in our own life and in the history of humanity, many things we nowadays just see as mere facts have been awe-inspiring mysteries.
Let me make one theological example. The Hebrew word "olam עולם" for "world" or "eternity" stems from "alam עָלַם", which means "to conceal" or "to hide".
But when Jesus came, he called himself "aletheia", which we translate as "truth", but is better translated as "uncovering".
One significant difference between Judaism and Christianity lies right here. While God in the Hebrew Bible hides, conceals, lives in the dark, and cannot be seen lest we die, Jesus uncovers, brings to light, even is light, and walks among us.
This is not making Christianity any better than Judaism. I think that it is a trajectory of maturity. It is not by happen chance that the Bible tells us that when the time was ready, God sent his son. The archetypal biblical stories talk of different stages during our travel on the spectrum of facts and mystery, similar to a child coming of age.
There is this fantastic cognitive horizon beyond which mystery lives, and it is deeply individual. Yet, it only leads to mystery when we follow Paula Prober's counsel: "Let curiosity be your extreme sport."
This does not only work in English. I have been an avid reader of German literature in a time that reading was becoming unfashionable in the German countries (I am five years ahead of you). German literature did not serve as a bulwark against the ideologies of the Eastern Bloc, as German spanned parts of both the East and the West. It still served as a mark of distinction for the educated, though. I did not only read but was an actor in plays by Goethe, Schiller, and Brecht.
It would be interesting to exchange thoughts on the decline of the humanities, or the question of why we have stopped (or slowed down) our progress and maturing on this trajectory.
I think, for me, I struggle these days with dichotomies... as everything can contain so many facets. Literature can help us feel, and can also lead to researching more facts, which can lead to more feelings, and on it can go. Facts can change the more we research and grow. Feelings can change the more we dig down deep and grow. To borrow a concept from a favorite author of mine, both the bitter and the sweet are connected, vital, and although each has their own beauty, they are stronger together as they highlight each other.
One can't argue against the inspirational value of literature: it's one human communicating with myriad others! But to take it a step further than inspiration: what matters to the broader world is action. What value to the world is private inspiration without outward action?
I don't agree with dichotomizing literature and facts: "mere facts", also, can inspire and motivate to action (here, I'm thinking climate change). Yes, it's a worrisome truth about our species that mere facts and data don't readily motivate enough people to grow past their ingrained beliefs and culture-war attitudes--leading to fact-free politics and dogmatic governance. Sonnets inspire people more than data does, but the decline in literature's coolness doesn't bode well for our species, either. But literature does help us, privately, to endure our species' failings, and give us hope.
My grandfather - who immigrated from Yorkshire, England to the U.S. in his twenties - taught me to love British literature before I knew what he was doing. It was his library, in which I found Kipling, Dickens, the Bronte sisters, and Austen, but also his birthday and Christmas gifts. Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Garden, Great Expectations, The Jungle Stories, Green Mansions, How Green was my Valley. Simply typing those titles takes me back to being curled up in his library's leather chair, enchanted and reading the afternoon away.
I longed to be an English major, and looked longingly at people in the library reading Charlotte's Web while I struggled with large heavy anatomy and physiology books to become a nurse. But I made my way back eventually to medical editing and writing:) in something called plain language. My son chose English as a major at a large public university and an MFA in poetry. I think that may have all been to be a better song writer. Both my sons were avid readers, but now seem afflicted by the ADPD: attention deficit phone disorder :):) It is weird at my age that I seem to have the longest attention span in the family, and that may have been helped by reading (something other than a phone)
I was an English Literature Major in college, graduated in 1972. I think that reading fiction does increase empathy, as well as appreciation of the beauty of language.
Thank you for this interesting newsletter. I just was reading about a medical school professor that teaches literature ( including Chekhov and Lorrie Moore) to increase empathy in med students. I remember reading that reading fiction does increase your empathy because you learn to see things from another point of view.
My mother was a high school English teacher. My grandmother owned a bookstore and I watched her read and write almost daily for as long as I could rememver. My high school English teacher was the teacher whose class lots of us ask to be transferred out of. My mother, who taught that English class where I was a student said, basically, "no way are you changing teachers!" Today, I manage a bookstore and read and write daily. And, I'm thankful for the love of reading and writing that was/is imprinted on my soul. Yes, I love literature!!
I was an English major. It was the first time I got to study what I loved and was around other people who loved it, too. One thing that always fascinated me about it is how stories capture history, language, culture, religion, philosophy, the human experience. It's beautiful. I learned how to think critically about life from literature.
I totally related to James Marriott’s essay. I have built my life around this faith too. I feel very isolated and sad at witnessing its demise. I don’t know how to live my life fully in this post-literature world.
As a retired English teacher for 33 years, how can I not love this topic??? Literature will always be one of my greatest loves. Below is a piece I wrote over 25 years ago with my students in a writing-workshop assignment on the topic of beauty. The sentiment is still true, and literature will always be beautiful and cool in my book. ❤
For the Love of Words
I am in love with words. Yes, words. This affair started when I was in 2nd grade and wrote my first poem. From then on, I have always loved to write and read. Words have such power over our lives and truly affect us. And I agree with Rudyard Kipling when he says, “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Words have the power to change us and are a source of beauty in my life.
A favorite childhood rhyme goes like this, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” What nonsense! Words can and do hurt. Conversely, they can also heal and inspire. They can build up or break down a relationship. They can start a war or end a romance. They can motivate men to action or to complacency. Words have such power over us that I think as humans we often overlook their influence in our lives. How many times have we been moved by a song, a commercial, a letter, or even a poem? Probably more times than we care to admit. The magic of language is truly a human phenomenon.
In another life, I probably would have been a linguist. I love to savor the language and feel words slide off my tongue. I actually have fun looking up a word’s etymology and find the variety of language patterns used quite fascinating. When you think about it, the fact that we, as humans, came up with an alphabet -- a symbolic code for the spoken word -- is truly mind boggling. And then to think how we use that symbolic code to communicate is also awe inspiring. Without a doubt, I believe man’s greatest invention is the alphabet.
I definitely am an “English” person. I’m one of those people who will remember what you said and how you said it, far more than what you were wearing or what you looked like. In fact, I have this eccentric habit of recopying poems, quotes, or sayings that I like. I must have thousand upon thousands of these “snippets.” Some are haphazardly thrown in folders, neatly written in journals, or well organized in my “quote” file on the computer. What I’m going to do with all of these words, I have no idea. But every now and then I like to read and linger over these sayings, mainly for relaxation and inspiration. I guess one of these days I think they’ll come in handy when I write my “great American novel” -- one of my dreams that began so long ago when I first fell in love with the written world.
Words are beautiful and when used well, they can be gorgeous! Words can move us to dance, sing, or even cry. After all, how many of us have gotten a little choked up from a sappy Hallmark commercial or when the dogs -- Old Dan and Little Ann -- died in Where a Red Fern Grows? And I wonder how many wars were prevented and relationships started because of some kind words spoken. Until we all learn the true power of words, as a species we will continue to resort to “sticks and stones” as a way to solve our conflicts. Yes, words are the most powerful drug ever created and used by man.
As you allude to, "mere facts" and "mysteries" do not build a dichotomy but rather a spectrum. When we look back in our own life and in the history of humanity, many things we nowadays just see as mere facts have been awe-inspiring mysteries.
Let me make one theological example. The Hebrew word "olam עולם" for "world" or "eternity" stems from "alam עָלַם", which means "to conceal" or "to hide".
But when Jesus came, he called himself "aletheia", which we translate as "truth", but is better translated as "uncovering".
One significant difference between Judaism and Christianity lies right here. While God in the Hebrew Bible hides, conceals, lives in the dark, and cannot be seen lest we die, Jesus uncovers, brings to light, even is light, and walks among us.
This is not making Christianity any better than Judaism. I think that it is a trajectory of maturity. It is not by happen chance that the Bible tells us that when the time was ready, God sent his son. The archetypal biblical stories talk of different stages during our travel on the spectrum of facts and mystery, similar to a child coming of age.
There is this fantastic cognitive horizon beyond which mystery lives, and it is deeply individual. Yet, it only leads to mystery when we follow Paula Prober's counsel: "Let curiosity be your extreme sport."
This does not only work in English. I have been an avid reader of German literature in a time that reading was becoming unfashionable in the German countries (I am five years ahead of you). German literature did not serve as a bulwark against the ideologies of the Eastern Bloc, as German spanned parts of both the East and the West. It still served as a mark of distinction for the educated, though. I did not only read but was an actor in plays by Goethe, Schiller, and Brecht.
It would be interesting to exchange thoughts on the decline of the humanities, or the question of why we have stopped (or slowed down) our progress and maturing on this trajectory.
I think, for me, I struggle these days with dichotomies... as everything can contain so many facets. Literature can help us feel, and can also lead to researching more facts, which can lead to more feelings, and on it can go. Facts can change the more we research and grow. Feelings can change the more we dig down deep and grow. To borrow a concept from a favorite author of mine, both the bitter and the sweet are connected, vital, and although each has their own beauty, they are stronger together as they highlight each other.
I see humanities embodied in subjects history and religions. I think humanities should be taken as stand alone disciplines
One can't argue against the inspirational value of literature: it's one human communicating with myriad others! But to take it a step further than inspiration: what matters to the broader world is action. What value to the world is private inspiration without outward action?
I don't agree with dichotomizing literature and facts: "mere facts", also, can inspire and motivate to action (here, I'm thinking climate change). Yes, it's a worrisome truth about our species that mere facts and data don't readily motivate enough people to grow past their ingrained beliefs and culture-war attitudes--leading to fact-free politics and dogmatic governance. Sonnets inspire people more than data does, but the decline in literature's coolness doesn't bode well for our species, either. But literature does help us, privately, to endure our species' failings, and give us hope.