I just read the book The Brothers K by David James Duncan. It is an excellent read and would recommend it. The book has many similarities to the classic Dostoevsky novel The Brothers Karamazov, which is one of my favorite books. Duncan does a great job of exploring some of society’s major issues such as religion and faith, war, social responsibility, family dynamics, care of sick and elderly, abuse and poverty. While reading the book I didn’t feel pressured or the need to change my opinion based upon what the author was writing. He did a fine job representing various viewpoints on all of these issues. Duncan also has a great writing style that is intellectually stimulating but not to the point that I felt incompetent.
This book set off a conversation with a friend about differences between authors and writing style. I shared the idea that some authors take a story that they have imagined and try to give it life whereas other authors take life and put it into a story. The difference is that one is trying to create something out of nothing, which is fairly difficult, while the other is taking life that exists and is real and puts it into story form. I like to think of life as a representation of truth, that it is something that exists and doesn’t need to be created but rather found and learned. Authors who take life and put it into story form are doing just that, they take truth and share it while others are relying on their own imagination to create it. By this distinction I don’t mean to place fiction in the category of “no life,” all of my favorite books are fiction and would even argue fictional books relate stories about life the best. Some examples are Les Miserable, The Brothers Karamazov, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Hobbit and 1984. The difference then lies in the author and his representation of the story and its truth concerning life.
The quote “we never look for such things inside us.” is from The Brothers K (pg 211) and represents both ideas that have been discussed about authors. Everyone reflects upon his own experiences but to what degree and how often does this take place? Often this reflection is somewhat superficial and if we were to look deeper inside we might find greater things than what we understand at the present time about ourselves, things that are grand but also things that might scare us. Maybe humans don’t like to know the type of person they really are? It seems to be easier to live life not knowing what we really are, or at least that is what is heard often as people state “ignorance is bliss.” Entertainment and pleasure are sought after to often when truth and life are what is needed. Not to say that entertainment is wrong to experience but the degree and quantity might be. Authors who use their own thoughts and creative spirit to formulate a book are only looking at the shallow parts of their vast resources of truth within themselves. It seems that they are seeking to entertain rather than share truth. This is a shame and a waste of energy.
I have also recently finished reading the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I do not wish to offend anyone but this next part might and so I apologize now if that happens. Twilight is a representation of an author who used her own imagination to bring life to a story. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless you wanted to understand and see the differences between authors that I have tried to describe. Meyer’s book is a drawn out love story between a vampire and a human that is founded on nothing more than unbridled passion. Her attempt is completely superficial at trying to represent truth and it is a shame because she does have potential for writing a really interesting work of fiction that could inspire and teach others. Her book fails to do either of these, which is fine (trying not to judge her) but I do not understand why so many people like it. The reason that I read Twilight was because I was so interested in finding out what the appeal was for so many readers and frankly I was quite discouraged. Because of the book’s superficial nature it seems that the only point to reading it is for entertainment value and even for that reason it is a bad choice.
I would be interested in knowing other books that might fit into one of these two classifications that I have explained. If you don’t quite know what I am talking about then please read the two books that I have discussed here and I hope that you will see what I mean.
This book set off a conversation with a friend about differences between authors and writing style. I shared the idea that some authors take a story that they have imagined and try to give it life whereas other authors take life and put it into a story. The difference is that one is trying to create something out of nothing, which is fairly difficult, while the other is taking life that exists and is real and puts it into story form. I like to think of life as a representation of truth, that it is something that exists and doesn’t need to be created but rather found and learned. Authors who take life and put it into story form are doing just that, they take truth and share it while others are relying on their own imagination to create it. By this distinction I don’t mean to place fiction in the category of “no life,” all of my favorite books are fiction and would even argue fictional books relate stories about life the best. Some examples are Les Miserable, The Brothers Karamazov, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Hobbit and 1984. The difference then lies in the author and his representation of the story and its truth concerning life.
The quote “we never look for such things inside us.” is from The Brothers K (pg 211) and represents both ideas that have been discussed about authors. Everyone reflects upon his own experiences but to what degree and how often does this take place? Often this reflection is somewhat superficial and if we were to look deeper inside we might find greater things than what we understand at the present time about ourselves, things that are grand but also things that might scare us. Maybe humans don’t like to know the type of person they really are? It seems to be easier to live life not knowing what we really are, or at least that is what is heard often as people state “ignorance is bliss.” Entertainment and pleasure are sought after to often when truth and life are what is needed. Not to say that entertainment is wrong to experience but the degree and quantity might be. Authors who use their own thoughts and creative spirit to formulate a book are only looking at the shallow parts of their vast resources of truth within themselves. It seems that they are seeking to entertain rather than share truth. This is a shame and a waste of energy.
I have also recently finished reading the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I do not wish to offend anyone but this next part might and so I apologize now if that happens. Twilight is a representation of an author who used her own imagination to bring life to a story. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless you wanted to understand and see the differences between authors that I have tried to describe. Meyer’s book is a drawn out love story between a vampire and a human that is founded on nothing more than unbridled passion. Her attempt is completely superficial at trying to represent truth and it is a shame because she does have potential for writing a really interesting work of fiction that could inspire and teach others. Her book fails to do either of these, which is fine (trying not to judge her) but I do not understand why so many people like it. The reason that I read Twilight was because I was so interested in finding out what the appeal was for so many readers and frankly I was quite discouraged. Because of the book’s superficial nature it seems that the only point to reading it is for entertainment value and even for that reason it is a bad choice.
I would be interested in knowing other books that might fit into one of these two classifications that I have explained. If you don’t quite know what I am talking about then please read the two books that I have discussed here and I hope that you will see what I mean.
6 comments:
Good to know about Twighlight. I figured it was pretty bad based off the hype and also the type of people who are reading it.
Paige is currently reading that series - as are all two of my sisters - and they all love it. I don't have to read it to know (or assume) that it is not my cup of tea.
I'll have to check out the first book you mentioned here.
Corbrett! The Brothers K is one of my two favorite books (you can even see I said it on my blog profile). Like you, I enjoy those other "classic" works of fiction, and those are the books I stuck to for a long time. The Brothers K is the book that convinced me amazing fiction is still being written today. I was 18 when I first read the book, and I have given it as a gift many times since then.
I think you make a good point about "bringing a story to life" vs. "bringing life to a story". I am saving up my life experiences amd hope to bring life to a story one day. In the meantime, I have to admit I do many things purely for entertainment. I have reflected many times that I am a superficial person leading a superficial life full of superficial interests.
Maybe what you're describing is what I refer to as the difference between a good book and good literature. I like to think of a good book as something that entertains and allows an individual to escape reality in cheap entertainment, good literature on the other hand requires something of the reader i.e. deep thought, moral struggle, inner conflict. I have a similar classification for cinema good movie vs. good film. Of course these are not definitions that are accepted by any large stratagem of the population, however in conversation if I use these words and define them I've found it makes for a more accurate discussion of the subject. This of course should lead to a post about words and their perceived vs actual definitions (semantics). Words like liberal, policy, conservative, etc.
Or not.
Thanks for the comments; it makes blogging more interesting knowing that you have people who are reading what you write.
Lisa: what is the other favorite book of yours? I think that superficiality is part of life and that it is going to be experienced regardless of how hard we try to avoid it. When you say that your life is full of superficial experiences I wonder though isn't it a matter of choice? I look forward to reading your book about your superficial life and to experience a bit of your life and truth through it because that is the type of author I think you will be.
tnh: good point and classifications. I will start to look at movies, books and such in light of this comment. In my HUMBLE opinion Twilight is neither a good book nor good literature. A discussion on definitions is always appropriate.
Hey...Try talking to a 14 year old girl without reading the series. I tried talking to my niece for three weeks and all she would ever talk about was Jacob or Edward. Finally one day when I was looking at her like she was nuts she gave me the series to read. Sometimes books like this (where you don't have to think and they are silly) are a necessary evil.
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