Mar 21, 2025
I know most of you probably have gripes with the "dispenser of pithy wisdom" model of literature, but putting them aside, what lessons have you learned from works of fiction or poetry? They can be from reading in general or from a particular work.
I think, genuinely, the most exclusive perspective I've gained from reading, that I was not able to access in any other medium (I'm more into film) is that, based on the works of a few of their own writers (20th century), the American ethos is and always was about nothing but gain, to its most absurd and morbid extent imaginable, and that doesn't just cast a shadow over their existence, their existence is the shadow play of rationalising it away cast over this object. But a large part of me also disagrees, most of the art I like is still American, even if this perspective had a pronounced effect on me.
amf1 year ago
Any wisdom I've gained from works is probably not pithy at all. A few top-of-my-head examples. Of Human Bondage taught me a healthy skepticism and to trust myself a bit more, Invisible Cities taught me how to upend my view of the world, Winesburg, Ohio taught me to peer deeply into unremarkable people, and Ragtime taught me how to engage and dance with the historical moment. All are imperfect and ongoing processes.
For example, I think a lesson of 19th century literature is the centrality of economic factors to daily life. So many 19th century novelists (Austen, Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy) have characters that talk quite freely about and are very concerned with annual salaries, acres of land, how much the dressmaker is charging, etc. By temperament, I am more inclined to think that the core elements of human life are kind of woo-woo and immaterial, but so much of life is, for better or worse, economic production and consumption. This fact is underappreciated and under-romanticized!
Generally, it has taught me a trifold lesson: everyone is more or less the same, most people are good, and human nature trends towards Shiva-like transformation. The world is a beautiful place full of people with different experiences. These experiences may be unique, but humans will always interpret them in a human way. Even if you read a book and can't relate to it exactly, you can understand the author's thought process or motivations. We are always destroying our lives and creating new paths for ourselves, especially through tasks we find mundane (getting a new job, moving cities, staring school, etc.) Literature is wholly connecting and wholly evident.