Do you read literature to learn more about reality, or to escape to another world?

[spookymulder93]

When I first started reading literature I was all about learning about what's considered to be reality but the older I get the farther away from reality I try to go.

I like novels that question what I've been conditioned to see as "normal" behavior.

[mayneverhave]

Neither necessarily.

I don't look for anything I read to mirror or conform to reality in any shape or form. I have no interest in whether literature accurately depicts reality, so I am not at all troubled by whether, for example, Hamlet displays a world which is similar to my own. I am not troubled by plays featuring ghosts (though I do not believe they exist), nor angels and devils (though I do not believe they exist).

That being said, I don't necessarily read as a means of a escape. Reading provides a certain kind of intellectual pleasure that could be considered akin to viewing a beautiful painting or listening to a well composed symphony.

[blazeofglory]

Both ends persuade me into reading books, novels and nonfictions. Through books I can read your minds and thoughts. I know books cannot disclose all you feel and think but it can if the reader is truthful to what he or she talks about say lots about human nature. There are many layers within us that remain deep-seated and we choose not to reveal even to our close associates and at times we become bold to share all we feel honestly and some people at great costs even at the cost of their lives.

Of course thru books I can enter into a different reality, a new hitherto undiscovered world, not necessarily a physical world; it can be a virtual world too

[MarkBastable]

The two things aren't mutually exclusive. In fact I'd argue that they're inseparable.

For instance, The Lord of the Rings was a represention of the real world as Tolkien saw it - the world he'd experienced in the blood and mud of the Great War, and the questions that had raised in him concerning humanity, evil and the struggle for balance and peace.

These are real world themes. Fantasy novels are not about trolls and Platform 13-and-a-halfs or Warp Speed spaceships or vampires at high school. Novelists write about the way they believe things are or they way they would like things to be, in the end. The goblins and the ray-guns and even the Bronx or the stockyards or the mansions in the Berkshires or the playing fields of Eton are just window-dressing.

[Seasider]

Sir Philip Sidney, an Elizabethan poet, said that the purpose of poetry...and I think it may be applied to Literature of any kind is "to teach and to delight". So it isn't an either/or situation. And the best of literature will do both.

[Kyriakos]

I agree that good literature gives insights as to how other people viewed things. In the end you create the story yourself, in your mind, since what the author had in mind, and what you experience of the story, never correspond fully :)
For example i write stories which have psychological explanations for unussual behaviours and phenomena. But i've been told that my stories are supernatural. It is all in how you look at it, in the end.

PErsonally nowdays i read a story so as to live in another world, the closed world of another person's creation, and what of his/her psyche was projected into it.

[JBI]

Neither. Literature is neither mirror or garden - it is neither rhetoric nor emotion - it generally is more of a conversation about itself. The best literature generally tends to not be about politics, but rather about itself as literature.

That's the strength behind Shakespeare - behind all of his plays is the metaphor of the stage - and, quite literally, a stage - they acknowledge that, and therefore function in creating their own worlds by pushing the possibilities - humanism, for instance, discusses humanity as something it constructs - it is neither escape nor realism, but rather, an intellectual ploy - discussing what it would mean to be human under a set of parameters.

The question isn't about turning inward or looking outward, but more of a game of wits, questioning the creative capacity of the artist in how they handle the tradition and their own place in it. Realism or illusion are both just parts of the game.

[mal4mac]

Reading provides a certain kind of intellectual pleasure that could be considered akin to viewing a beautiful painting or listening to a well composed symphony.

Not *all* reading does this, or aims to do this. When I read my A-Z I don't expect (or get) any direct pleasure. I just *indeed* learn more about reality.

When reading literature I mostly hope for pleasure, but sometimes I want to stretch myself and know that pleasure is not necessarily going to occur - I thought my recent attempts at reading Ulysses and the Bible would yield more pain than pleasure. I was right! (Too much pain in fact, so I stopped.)

[Heteronym]

Yes, well, let's make a distinction between reading literature (which is part of something greater known as fiction) and reading guides, manuals, train time tables, etc.

I read to get in contact with new modes of reality and appreciate different, subtler nuances of the human condition that sometimes I can't appreciate in everyday life. I read to confirm certain things I think I know about Mankind, but also to be surprised by the new things writers reveal about it. And, if possible, I like to do while reading a novel that's funny and delightful to read too :nod:

[nandakishore]

In my opinion, we can never experience reality, only the internal picture of it that we form through the data filtered in through our senses. Even if we assume that this is a good approximation of external reality, it is quite possible that we are living in a world similar to that of "The Matrix" and "Vanilla Sky". Our view of reality is coloured by our minds, our selves.

Good literature takes us beyond these sensory data, by using language, our everyday medium of communication, in unusual ways. We experience reality as it can never be experienced by our senses.

[miyako73]

To learn how a certain writer views an object, a person, an event, or even an insect-- like the ants of Marquez.

[Scheherazade]

I usually read to be able to say that I have read them... And throw them into conversation casually: "Oh, that reminds me of Thomas Hardy's Tess" or "You sound just like a character out of a John Osborne play!"

People try very hard not to show it but I know they are jealous.

[spookymulder93]

I usually read to be able to say that I have read them... And throw them into conversation casually: "Oh, that reminds me of Thomas Hardy's Tess" or "You sound just like a character out of a John Osborne play!"

People try very hard not to show it but I know they are jealous.

That plays a part in some of the books I read. Especially the classics. It's like I want to see why so many people view them as classics.

[Heteronym]

I usually read to be able to say that I have read them... And throw them into conversation casually: "Oh, that reminds me of Thomas Hardy's Tess" or "You sound just like a character out of a John Osborne play!"

People try very hard not to show it but I know they are jealous.

Unfortunately, that only works if you're surrounded by people who care about reading in the first place. Otherwise they just shrug their shoulders, ignorant of my book references, and go on talking about :brickwall

[LMK]

I agree with the distinction Heteronym offers between reading what one chooses verses reading what one must to get by (books, magazines vs. bus schedules, manuals).

Therefore, I would like to suggest to the OP that there are two responses; the first, is what one chooses to read, and for me that can vary from classic literature (ex, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Camus, Twain, Stevenson, Dickens) to action/adventure (ex, Vince Flynn, Baldacci) to non-fiction (Tuesdays with Morrie, The Lost City of Z), to something that catches my eye (The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Rumpole at the Bailey)

The second response is why I read, and I will admit that I do read to escape, not to a place, but from one. Hotel rooms, airplanes, waiting areas, sometimes even to get away from what I should be doing – writing. But, I also enjoy meeting new people, visiting new places and being introduced to human characteristics and reactions, situations that I might not have been exposed to otherwise.

[Heteronym]

Although I certainly read to escape my life, which I don't particularly like, by reading I'm entering into lives that are far more complicated, but not necessarily better or more interesting, than mine. So I wouldn't equate escapism with ease. I'm confronted with people who do not think like me, do not act like me; many times they're the opposite of what I am. Reading is an intellectually strenuous task and requires a bit of tolerance and patience - not patience for reading, but the patience to endure people we don't particularly like, a quality anyone who works in an office understands.

[Mr.lucifer]

I read for high quality stories. Whatever is the book is trying to provide for me ,I'll take it. Just as long as its good.

[Veho]

The times when I would like to escape reality most, are usually the times when I find it most difficult to concentrate.

[Jeremydav]

I read to enjoy the language and artistry of the work. Of course, great philosophical concepts hit me in the face on the occasion, but I don't go searching for them in literature.

[JuniperWoolf]

I like your threads.

For me, it's not really about where the books take me. I read because of how the novels change the person that I am. Ever time I read a novel, I learn a bit more and I become something more than what I was before.

[Jay on blues]

Well I can't read a book without thinking about how it relates to me, but I also read for fun. Sticky situation, I would say.

[blazeofglory]

Reading is a mix of both, and we read for fun and understanding the reality of the article studied in point of fact. And no one in essence reads just for fun, and even in the tradition fairy tales our children read have something to instruct us and we kind of forget what it touches while becoming so much obsessed with the story, but there are great parables interwoven in them and they kid of impact us unconsciously. This is the beauty of reading. Reading can do both, transports us to a world of fantasy.

[Mr.lucifer]

You could argure when it comes to literature that you're escaping no matter what its about since the point of storytelling is be emotionally involved with people who don't even exist and the imaginary events that happen to them.

[grace86]

I read literature for many reasons, some of which are already mentioned. There is an ego in me that does like it when I can tell people Crime and Punishment is one of my favorite books or when I can point out how a movie makes use of the theme of another piece of literature. :D So I like to feel smart! ;)

But I also think that literature connects us more with humanity. And I believe that even while it can make us a bit antisocial at times when we're reading out of escapism, I believe it also can make us more human. We can relate to our peers when we learn about different cultures and places and events - yes - even through literature / fiction.

There is a quotation by James Baldwin that I like, "You think your pains and your heartbreaks are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who have ever been alive." Reading literature can connect us to one another!

And I like to get into a novel and time travel and experience things I otherwise never would.

And lots and lots more reasons I'm sure!!!

[blazeofglory]

This is right. In fact it connects us locally and globally. I am coming across you through pieces of expressions that stream from you and there is no physical or geographical or cultural or socioeconomic connections between us and this connection is a literary connection in point of fact. When I read your article I read your mind, your heart and what goes deep down in you, the joys you have lived with, the torments you have gone though, the pangs sufferings you have experienced. The reality is part of your sufferings are mine or when you write about the insufferable, you just do not voice your thoughts alone, mine too. This is therefore a universal phenomenon, not just personal and therefore literature is something that makes us more humane and connected

[grace86]

This is right. In fact it connects us locally and globally. I am coming across you through pieces of expressions that stream from you and there is no physical or geographical or cultural or socioeconomic connections between us and this connection is a literary connection in point of fact. When I read your article I read your mind, your heart and what goes deep down in you, the joys you have lived with, the torments you have gone though, the pangs sufferings you have experienced. The reality is part of your sufferings are mine or when you write about the insufferable, you just do not voice your thoughts alone, mine too. This is therefore a universal phenomenon, not just personal and therefore literature is something that makes us more humane and connected


Right on!

Great minds think alike!! :)

[BookofNothing92]

I read because I consider literature/books to be an escape from reality yet I learn more about reality if you understand what I mean and I find that very pleasing.

[Alexander III]

I read, and this applies to all arts's not just literature, because the artificial emotions it creates are far more powerful and beautiful than those real emotions of life which no longer stir me in the same way.

[LuggageFan]

Depends on my mood. I will read fantasy and science fiction (or other genre stuff) to escape when I'm going through difficult things in my life, or if I'm just feeling like not feeling any pain.

But when I'm feeling thoughtful or when I'm ready to examine issues in my life, I may turn to more realistic stuff, to read about characters whose lives I think would be nice to live out.

But mostly, I read genre.

[Gribble]

As well as being the best form of escapism, for me literature is my way of expression. I don't share myself with anyone, to most I am a closed book (please ignore that cheesy cheesy pun!).

I can't express my emotions in reality, so when I cry in books, or I think something that I read is a beautiful concept - I use that to show to others what I'm feeling.
I don't know if that makes sense or not and I'm really sorry if it doesn't.

I guess I always find honesty in literature, human traits, characteristics, raw emotion, flaws are written down and exposed for all the world to see. The openness of literature just blows my mind! I find solace in what I read because it's the only way I can share myself with those I love.

[Patrick_Bateman]

Always read to learn

[Nathan920]

The first books I started reading by choice, where I went out and bought them at the bookstore, were the Moonshae Trilogy written by Douglas Niles. It was fantasy and I was fairly new to the whole genre having been introduced to The Lord of the Rings a few years before. I bought them and I really enjoyed them so I pretty much found the genre that I liked. The next set of books that I read were the Icewind Dale Trilogy written by R.A. Salvatore. They far exceeded the Moonshae trilogy in terms of the characters. I mean who could not like Drizzt Do'Urden when he first appeared. So to answer the question I read books to escape reality.

[wallflower5]

To escape to another world. Why would I want to be in realty all the time, when I can be in 19th century Paris for two hours.

[blazeofglory]

Reading is a kind of navigation and through it I plow through time and space. In fact I do not want to remain limited or time and space outpacing me in point of fact. I am really powered to outgrow time. I read the Mahabharata and I feel I am communing with the characters of the epic and my favorite Arjun, the epical warrior shows up. I read Marlow's Dr. Faustus and fantasize I am soaring higher and higher to kiss Helen, the Greek queen now in heaven. I never think I am rooted here and I am on wings soaring higher and higher in defiance of the heavens.

[Lord Macbeth]

As I believe the ultimate reason and goal of art is and must be a creation and exploration of the mysteries of the fundamental philosophical questions that surround our existence, I would have to answer the former; escapist, purely-fantastical stories are best left to the world of James Bond--fun, sugary, like candy, but not substantiative and, in my view, not art.

To be clear, I'm not attacking fantasy here--LOTR is VERY substantiative, as is the Arthurian Legend, the Greek Myths, and so on.

But, again, something like James Bond--this is purely escapist and not truly a work of art, at least not literary or dramatic art.

[blazeofglory]

In fact all I do is fantasize being somewhere taking flights and being out of body and I despise this physical existence alone and look for a domain of fantasies and it is always books or literature that takes me there where we want to be. This is a spiritual flight to the unknowns and I may commune with the elves, gnomes in paradise which you consciously or realistically never conceive of

[Drkshadow03]

I read for every possible reason that's been mentioned (escapism into a fun world different than my own, to get more in touch with my own world, to learn about people different than myself and understand others better, to learn about people similar to myself and understand myself better, to challenge my biases and beliefs, to confirm my biases and beliefs, for sheer enjoyment, for the sheer struggle of it, to sound smarter at parties, and to pat myself on the book when I recognize the "game" happening between texts that JBI refers to). I recognize there is no one single reason to read a book. I don't really understand why so many people are obsessed with finding that one primary reason for reading to the exclusion of all others.

[oshima]

For me, literature is a playground with many different layers. The foundation of the playground is text and what text evokes in us and what evokes us to write text. It plays with ideas, history, narrative, semiotics, emotion, etc. It can have shades of reality, but my favorite thing about literature is it's influence on my perception of reality. Even at a basic level, the author's obsession for the details of life, from the texture of a pink rose weighed down by dewdrops to the veiled motivations of one's subconscious, inspires me to look closer and/or differently at the world around me.

[Gizlam]

Personally on bad days i do read for escapism. But aslong as the author/poet/playwrite are convincing and write in a beautiful way which fascinates me i can find pleasure and escapism in most writing.

I read mainly because i enjoy words. I like to learn new words find different combinations and a book, cup of tea and a piece of cake. The winter too... the winter is a good time to read.

I think its important to transport readers to a whole new world. Whether it be realistic or completely fantasmigorical.

Goodbye world... See you later down the path

[WyattGwyon]

I read fiction primarily as art, not to learn or to escape. Some of the novels that mean the most to me have changed my view of reality in a fundamental way, but without leaving any trace that could be called learning. Sometimes the worlds, plots and networks of characters they create are enthralling and labyrinthine and I feel transported and fulfilled by spending time in them, but I don't equate any of this with escape. It is more like hyper-reality where one can get a dose of life at high concentration.

[deltakid]

I love knowledge and wisdom. I use reading either as escape from reality or to further my understanding of our world and especially of humans and what makes them do what they do.

Love what you said Nandakishore. I absolutely agree. We just have to imagine our senses would work well for different electromagnetic waves and our whole reality would be different.

[Silas Thorne]

'Do you read literature to learn more about reality, or to escape to another world?'

Either or both.

[Syd A]

If I wanted to know more about the disgusting world in which we live, I'd read the New York Times or some other rag. I am far more interested in any fictional character than in whether some dirtbag will get reelected for Congress.

[inbetween]

sometimes to escape (down the rabbit hole I go...) sometimes to learn
sometimes both at a time.... and I agree one can't really seperate those... whenever you read you also learn (not facts perhaps but something else) and most of the times you don't even notice it:smilewinkgrin:

[Mona ..]

I read according to my mood :D




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[YesNo]

I read according to my mood :D




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So do I.

[AudreySchriver]

This is an interesting question. I honestly don't know, it's a bit of both. But I've aspired to be a writer since I was about ten years old, so each day that I write feels like I'm both understanding reality a little better, while I'm creating a different world at the same time.