Literature's return on investment



It was Montaigne that said when he has one of his black dog days, he would sit and read a book for an hour and find the darkness had passed.

 

I had a conversation with a young lady on Tuesday about the books we read during our various life cycles. During my childhood years I grew an addiction to fantasy genre literature, this was highly likely triggered by reading Greek Mythology and watching the 'Sinbad' movies alongside classics such as 'clash of the Titans'. Being a young boy I lapped up all those fantastical monsters, Gods and heroes that saved the day. Every little boy wants to be a hero and deep down I probably still feel the same way. I also read because it was a way of escaping the harsh realities of my world and as Montaigne pointed out, it can work for adults also.

 

Then this lady said, you know, I used to read all the time, but then came college and university and I switched to knowledge books. And I said that's such a shame, because I used to read fiction with a passion, but I got to a certain age, where self imposed expectations saw me taking up 'knowledge books' as a sort of, 'You have to grow up at some point'. That point was me saying I need to learn something that will get me a job that pays good money, gains me respect, status and enough time to take a holiday so I can relax and read some fiction! I also wanted to beat lesser beings in intellectual argumentation, not just beat people, in Economic discussions I openly and publicly destroyed their puny arguments, I smashed them for daring to contradict the power of my self earned and hard won knowledge!

 

I regret that now, feel guilty in fact and If I could turn back the clock or even apologise to those people I smashed...

 

Now the lady in question is reading 'knowledge' books about her passion and I would never dissuade any one from that, hypocrite would spring to mind. What I would say is, I personally have enjoyed fiction and I have pushed myself to master a knowledge subject for status, respect and power, but have now returned to reading great literature and occasionally fantasy fiction, because I have learned a valuable lesson, something I told a person last week who put herself down for not being intellectual enough in her mind.

 

'Knowledge is a fleeting and ever changing topic'. Ideas, which she has by the bucket load, ideas can change humanity forever. The wheel was an idea, so was fire, so on throughout history, Ideas are most important, not knowledge. Aristotle was a very knowledgeable man on a variety of topics, but most would reach for Richard Dawkins if they wanted an easy read on Evolution, not Aristotle.

 

Fiction, the great works of literature can feed our brains, especially if we take something we enjoy reading and there's nothing wrong with reading 'children's' fiction as an adult. I have learned more philosophy and moral compassion from Alice's adventures in wonderland that from reading war and peace!

 

The bonus is we can have a face to face discussion about the latest novel we read. Who wants to sit and listen to me espouse the delights of the 8th edition of David Beggs' 'Economics'? However If I am at a coffee table with a couple of fellow readers and I mention I have just finished Kafka's great 'Metamorphosis', no doubt we could spend hours getting lost in the meaning behind that story.

 

Fiction will not give you a monetary return on your time perhaps, but it will make you more friends, make you a more interesting person to be around and hopefully make you a happier person in the process.

 

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fictions business to ask them. - Richard Hughes