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Aha! This whole discussion is making me realize something. I think I've been very silly. I think I've mixed up the cause and effect.
I proposed that immersing yourself constantly in stories provokes a certain loneliness. But now I'm beginning to think otherwise. Perhaps the loneliness is not the effect of reading, but rather part of the cause. I don't think I would read half as much if I didn't experience loneliness. Experiencing stories through the artistic venue of Literature is something that, like many of you are suggesting, alleviates, maybe even distracts loneliness. That being said, I don't think one has to be chronically lonely to really enjoy a good book. But there is a difference between enjoying books, and craving them as a thirsting man craves water; feeling that you need them.
Loneliness, by the way, is part of the human condition, and as everyone knows too well, you don't have to be alone to be lonely. Why everyone is lonely on some level, I don't know. Maybe it's because you can only be so close with another human, and when you lay your head on your pillow at night, you're still you, and not another soul can ever experience what you experience.
Nicely put, Lumiere. I think you're right regarding the cause vs. the effect. Reading doesn't cause loneliness, but it can sometimes help to read when lonely. I would hasten to add, however, that there are many other reasons to read apart from being lonely. As regards our in/ability to experience another's condition, I suppose it depends upon how you look at it. I agree that sometimes there is something poignantly sad about the thought that I will never fully know what it is to be anyone but myself, that there is a limit to what I can know of another person. Most of the time, however, I can't help but think how amazing it is that we are able to know as much of one another as we can. I may not ever have had the entire experience of another, but there is no doubt that pieces of other people have become a part of me. If I began to try to sort out what parts of myself are only myself and what parts I owe to my interactions, both great and small, brief and longstanding with other people, and even with the works of other people in the form of books, paintings, music etc., I don't even know how I would begin to unravel the many threads of influence that are tightly woven within me. The ability for one soul to make a lasting impression, to help shape or colour another's soul is an absolutely incredible thing. It may be that one of the reasons that not only literature, but art in general are appealing is that it gives you instant gratification when it comes to getting that kind of intimate glance into a piece of another person because the writer/artist often sets out to open up an experience outside our own. Of course, this is not something offered by art alone, but by our relationships with others. In the deepest relationships, the people we share love and friendship with most truly, the line between one person and another does sometimes become, if not erased, then less distinct.
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When you read you essentially experience life as someone else knows it. For me, I can get more into a book than is probably healthy. I feel what the main character feels, I begin to think how they think, even develop similar character traits for a short period of time. The strange thing is: why am I not satisfied with just experiencing my own life? Books, after all, are just artistic representations of reality as someone else knows it. If I were someone else, for example, I could read a book about Lumiere's life and find it a satiating and beautiful story. But as I am not someone else, I need to experience alternate versions of reality. I don't know why, but I do, and so do you.
Yes, I'm sure that every avid reader has felt him/herself thinking, feeling, even acting a little like a certain character. I've always figured that sort of intense reader identification is a little like the way a method actor feels when in a role. As long as it doesn't get out of hand (I am reminded of an old Ronald Coleman film in which he plays an actor who gets a bit too into his role as Othello) then it can be a fun and fascinating experience. Enjoying and learning from alternate versions of reality is perfectly fine, so long as you aren't escaping so much that you're missing your own life. It's always important to remind ourselves once in awhile that if we take from the experiences of others then we owe it to others in their lonely times to give a part of ourselves in return. Don't let the world miss out on Lumiere because you are taking for granted what another might find wonderful. :nod:
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In short: humans are strange and wonderful creatures.
Something we can all agree on. :D
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Originally Posted by
JBI
Oh, I actually meant that quite literally. I study Chinese now, so don't have time to read through thousands of pages of text a week - I was referring to the Chinese literary world - which seems a distant glitter beckoning - but alas - I am at about 1000 of 4000 or so characters I need, and know none of the compound meanings, so it is an uphill drive, as I have stated, but it doesn't mean anything.
Ah! I see. I guess I haven't been around for awhile and wasn't aware of where your interests have carried you lately.
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As for me taking an academic route - I still toy with the notion - I knew after my first year really that I needed to get away from English, and run as far as possible if I wanted to get anywhere in Academia. It seems English as a discipline has become a unwanted appendage, and is slowly being cut off by the knives of more "useful" subjects, so, ultimately, I picked up and ran.
Coward. Meanwhile we few, we happy few...
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Of course, I toyed with Italian for a while, but that too seems to be a dying world - U of Toronto has the largest Italian department outside of Italy, but even that is being cut down severely. Alas, I landed on East Asian Studies (essentially Chinese Studies) and that seems to work - at least it is an expanding field, as apposed to a dying one
.
Why "alas"? It was your choice, and it sounds like a fascinating field of study. Having a couple of friends in East Asian studies who are looking at the job market, I wouldn't necessarily have said that it's an infinitely superior pragmatic choice than other humanities jobs, but naturally if it's something you find you really love then that's the most important thing. In any case "pragmatic" choices of subject aren't successful when it comes to academics unless there is also a real love of the subject chosen. If you do go the academic route you might find a way of combining your new Chinese skills with your knowledge of western writers. I have a friend who has recently been very successful with her dissertation comparing French writer/philosopher Michel de Montaigne and Chinese writer/philosopher Li Zhi. It produced some really fascinating thought (and a successful run on the job market ;)).
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But will I go to Academia? Perhaps, perhaps not. I have the language requirements for several disciplines, but ultimately, whether I pursue anything related to my current education is debatable. At least, I think, by the end, I will have at least read something a little bit interesting, and be able to speak a few languages comfortably.
Yes, obviously you'll have to discover what you most want to do, but as you say, you'll walk away with some good skills and a worthwhile experience at the very least.
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For instance, I couldn't go to a dinner party, and discuss Spenser's Faerie Queene with many people - in short, if people ask me what I study now, I simply just respond with languages - it is far easier and less painful then explaining that in class we sit there and discuss different forms of allegory in Spenser, or sit there counting out substitutions in Astrophil and Stella - quite simply, nobody cares, and nobody, outside of a small niche, really knows what that means anyway.
Now that is a common place thing - try doing that with something like Gascoigne and where is one left with?
:lol: Boy are you talking to the wrong person. I spend a huge portion of my life both in and out of the classroom talking to people about works/authors like The Faerie Queene and Gascoigne when they know nothing about either. It is entirely possible to talk to people about Spenser over dinner, waiting at the bus stop, in the dentist's waiting room etc. I'm often pleasantly surprised at how many more people are interested in learning about something they don't understand than I used to think.
I do understand what you mean, however. Chances are high that I'm not going to end up having an in-depth specialized conversation over the dinner table, because the people I'm talking with don't have specialized knowledge. I do tend to start off by mentioning Shakespeare to people when they don't know what I mean by writers in the Renaissance period because they're more likely to recognize or have some connection with Shakespeare than with Spenser, who fewer people have read. That doesn't mean that I haven't ended up talking about Spenser to lots of people. I just can't launch in right off the bat with sophisticated observations about allegory any more than I would do so in the first lecture of a beginning survey course. Obviously one can't expect other people to know as much as you do about a subject you spend a lot of time with, but if you start with the basics a fair number of people may take an interest in literature. This is true, though, of any profession or intense interest a person has. Is a doctor lonely because most people aren't going to be interested in an in-depth discussion of anatomy at the table? Or is someone who enjoys aviation lonely because not everyone wants to talk about the more detailed technical aspects of planes?
Thinking about such situations though, I realize that I did used to have a lot more trouble talking to people about my literary interests because I was trying to explain something I was just learning myself. It felt like a problem with the other person being uninterested at the time, but I think it was more of a problem with my level of knowledge and experience at explaining the things I enjoy in a way that other people can understand and connect with most easily. Probably some teaching experience has really helped with this. It's very difficult as a student to try to articulate something you've just learned yourself, or to know how to trace back to the start of how you ended up with the understanding you've just acquired in order to explain it to someone else. I still have the same sort of problem with trying to explain something I'm just beginning to research, perhaps the concept of a new chapter of my dissertation that I'm struggling with, but I'm more self aware now that the awkwardness and the impulse to brush people off with a brief answer is more about my own inability to express something coherently than their inability to understand anything at all about my topic. Because of this I simply explain to people honestly a few basic things that interest me about the topic and am upfront with the fact that there's a lot I don't know about it myself.
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Originally Posted by mortal terror
It little profits that an idle grad,
By this full shelf, among these dusty tomes,
Matched with an aged prof, I mete and dole
unequal grades unto a savage class,
That cram, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
You guys sure know how to make a girl feel happy about her chosen profession. (That's hilarious, Mortal :lol:)
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Originally Posted by
Jozanny
Petrarch: I did not mean to ignore your question, I just needed a moment. I took a peek at your travel blog and you appear to look much younger than your posts would indicate, so I am going to borrow from James in the imperative: "Live! Live all that you can!"
Savior what your gifts, and lively intelligence have given you and burn these experiences into your memory. It could be that I was never meant to be a professor; I cannot say, because my pain interfered with my self-discipline. It took me years even to work up the nerve to query editors regularly and make a nuisance of myself, and I don't use Coletta's nearly scientific diction, so I have an intimation of how well my little project will fare, perhaps, at the end of the day -- but I regret many of my choices, cannot undo them, and feel like I am in a race against the clock just to get to the level I want to be as an author.
I was, however, where you are now, in a sense, and never made the most of it. I hope you do.
Thanks, Jozanny. I'm doing my best to live fully so long as the powers that be allow. :) Hoping that your project goes well and that you find satisfaction in it. Sounds like you aren't forgetting to use the best of your own gifts and intelligence or to get the most out of life that you are able, and that's an admirable thing in any person.
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Jozzany--JBI, my critique would be, so what?
When you stay on topic, your knowledge too has the capacity to teach, as opposed to upending every convention you see. Maybe you should try it some time.
SLG--Where is the "I just spit my drink on the computer screen while laughing" icon?
See, I told you that your posts were an antidote to polemic around here, Joz. ;)
Meanwhile, mum's the word on my possibly youthful appearance. Can you imagine what would happen if this lot stopped picturing me as the most earnest of middle aged professorial types, complete with spectacles, a dowdy sweater and slightly graying hair pulled back at my neck? Hard enough to get any respect 'round here as it is, what with being a scholar attached to a dying appendage of a discipline. :D
