[NT] Literature Appreciation

[ygolo]

I appreciate music, and the visual arts. I also enjoy a good film now and then. I like to read non-fiction.

But I have never been that interested in fine literature or poetry.

For literature fans (esp. NTs since I would like to see if I can appreciate it too):

What about literature or poetry is appealing to you?

 

[Metamorphosis]

We already partially live in our own world of our creation. Literature just makes the transportation and details better.

 

[Oberon]

I appreciate music, and the visual arts. I also enjoy a good film now and then. I like to read non-fiction.

But I have never been that interested in fine literature or poetry.

For literature fans (esp. NTs since I would like to see if I can appreciate it too):

What about literature or poetry is appealing to you?

Literature performs a primary role in building the common understanding that is a culture. In this function, the word "myth" may be more accurate; be that as it may, the stories shared in common by a people provide a basis of thought that yields a certain level of common understanding. If a common language is the grammar level of culture, then a common literature is the dialectic level of culture.

This terminology is awfully mushy for what I'm trying to say. I have the concept much more clearly than I am expressing it.

In application, the West is what it is because of Isaiah and Plato the Metamorphoses and Beowulf and el Cid and the Song of Roland and Chaucer and Shakespeare and Balzac and Poe.

Meta-literature (like Absurdist works) and post-modern works, both of which can be in a sense literature about literature, tend to short-circuit this cultural function by asserting that a given culture, the basis for culture, or even the idea of culture itself, is pointless, evil, or illusory.

 

[Veneti]

I appreciate music, and the visual arts. I also enjoy a good film now and then. I like to read non-fiction.

But I have never been that interested in fine literature or poetry.

For literature fans (esp. NTs since I would like to see if I can appreciate it too):

What about literature or poetry is appealing to you?

I used to think Music etc was a "waste of space". However, I've slowly moved into thinking about "Music, images etc" and its got quite creatively interesting. I like analysing music and looking at the layers and why some song's are more catchy and so forth. As an adult I actually think Music isn't that "creative" to be honest, it can be scientifically broken down and replicated (esp if you merge it with all the other music styles etc you listen to).

Poetry was great as a kid. But as an adult I look it more as people generally feeling sorry for themselves by being too deep. I like shallow witty poetry though...

 

[ygolo]

Literature performs a primary role in building the common understanding that is a culture. In this function, the word "myth" may be more accurate; be that as it may, the stories shared in common by a people provide a basis of thought that yields a certain level of common understanding. If a common language is the grammar level of culture, then a common literature is the dialectic level of culture.

This terminology is awfully mushy for what I'm trying to say. I have the concept much more clearly than I am expressing it.

In application, the West is what it is because of Isaiah and Plato the Metamorphoses and Beowulf and el Cid and the Song of Roland and Chaucer and Shakespeare and Balzac and Poe.

Meta-literature (like Absurdist works) and post-modern works, both of which can be in a sense literature about literature, tend to short-circuit this cultural function by asserting that a given culture, the basis for culture, or even the idea of culture itself, is pointless, evil, or illusory.

I can see Myths and stories as being important for inculcating values. I remember listening to Gita and Bible stories as a kid. I also liked learning the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian Mythology. Last time I was interested in mythology into I have been into Zen koans, Native-American tales, and tales of Anansi the Spider (not sure why, I was fascinated by his trickery).

For some reason, I wasn't thinking of Mythology as literature. But I suppose a lot modern literature (and even TV, pop-Novels) forms the common idioms that shape our discourse. But wouldn't we pick up those idioms through the discourse without reading a lot of literature?

 

[The Ü™]

I'm not a fan of fiction. I enjoy reading historical and science articles, though, because it helps shape my internal world in a more abstract fashion. I don't like fiction because it's so systematic, basically when you read a story, the imagery that comes to mind is very systematic and linear, with very little going beyond that.

When I read articles and so forth, the words tend to be less detailed and so the internal imagery has more that I can build upon on my own, often going to cerebral landscapes that are completely unrelated. With such articles, linear reading is not as imperative.

This also happens when I listen to music. I don't really pay attention to the words or pick apart the layers, I just absorb the rhythm and invent my own subjective meaning. Listening to music and/or seeing something that catches my eye also allows me drift away into an inner landscape that is completely unrelated to the objective data.

As far as poetry (linguistic), I hate it. I hate reading it and I hate hearing it. It does nothing for me.

 

[Helfeather]

For some reason, I love reading fictions; I find they enhance my imagination and creativity. xD

Fiction books are ok; I don't stray too close to them, as I do not find them 'fun' to read.

For example, I would rather read 1984, than say, an article someone wrote about our current political system.

Speculation can be so much fun xD As opposed to reality T___________T

 

[Oberon]

I can see Myths and stories as being important for inculcating values. I remember listening to Gita and Bible stories as a kid. I also liked learning the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian Mythology. Last time I was interested in mythology into I have been into Zen koans, Native-American tales, and tales of Anansi the Spider (not sure why, I was fascinated by his trickery).

For some reason, I wasn't thinking of Mythology as literature. But I suppose a lot modern literature (and even TV, pop-Novels) forms the common idioms that shape our discourse. But wouldn't we pick up those idioms through the discourse without reading a lot of literature?

Nonononono. When I used the word "mythology," I meant something bigger than just Ovid's Metamorphoses, the stories about the Greek gods. I meant those too, but also Hemingway. Heck, as you rightly observe, even the hitmen in Pulp Fiction have (God help us) become part of the ongoing conversation. Like you, I wasn't really thinking of "mythology" as literature, though...I was thinking of literature as mythology.

As for picking up idioms through the discourse without reading a lot of literature, well, sure, you can do that...if you only want to acquire this week's culture. If you really want to understand what Tarrantino was saying through John Travolta, however, you have to know Sam Peckinpah, and before him John Ford, and before him Zane Grey, and before him John Milton, and before him Moses.

Art (and literature is a kind of art) is contextual. The history of art is the context in which the current works are interpreted. I'm really just a beginner at such interpretation, but even I can see that it's so.

 

[Zergling]

I'm a halfway "doesn't really understand literature" person. Some stuff I like, some stuff just seems over dramatic. The ones I do like, though, tend to be the ones with good character interaction, with people who tend to simply do things as expected instead of doing things that seem over-dramatic. These ones tend to be good for bringing me into the mindset of people, showing what they do and why they do it, and those sorts of things.

 

[Recluse]

In reference to the type of literature that I favor:

Science fiction allows one to explore possibilities that may not yet be possible and to consider the potential ramifications of future technology, alternative political and societal structures, encounters with vastly different lifeforms and intelligences, etc.

Others have said it better than I can:
Definitions of Science Fiction

One gleans insight from others' ideas, leading to ideas of one's own.

Some complex ideas can be difficult to portray visually. And while non-fiction also provides a path to this same source of thought and inspiration, well-written literature makes the path an enjoyable journey, in no small part by allowing us to experience the journey through the eyes of characters to whom we can relate. (Note that I said well-written literature.) This alone can lead to realizations that might not have occurred otherwise, forcing us to consider the human element, which we Thinker types can neglect to do.


Although the fact that I enjoy daydreaming about fantastical things may also have something to do with my liking for fiction.

 

[ygolo]

Art (and literature is a kind of art) is contextual. The history of art is the context in which the current works are interpreted. I'm really just a beginner at such interpretation, but even I can see that it's so.

I am beginning to see what you mean. But as someone with little knowledge of context of this sort, not a way to integrate that context into something coherent, I have a hard time appreciating it.

Isn't history just a bunch of accidental events strung together by cause and effect? devil: ) What sense can we make of context?

 

[Oberon]

I am beginning to see what you mean. But as someone with little knowledge of context of this sort, not a way to integrate that context into something coherent, I have a hard time appreciating it.

Isn't history just a bunch of accidental events strung together by cause and effect? devil: ) What sense can we make of context?

You start by being aware that the artist was aware of the context.

To pick a trivial example, you might not think there was any reason for me to call my blog "The Rash Wanton Tarries" if you weren't aware that one of Oberon's early lines to Titania in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream was "Tarry, rash wanton!"

As I said, that's a trivial example...good art uses context in much more important ways than that.

 

[Oberon]

Isn't history just a bunch of accidental events strung together by cause and effect?

Your linking of "accidental" with "cause and effect" is making my head spin. This is a usage of the term "accidental" with which I am unfamiliar.

 

[ygolo]

Your linking of "accidental" with "cause and effect" is making my head spin. This is a usage of the term "accidental" with which I am unfamiliar.

What I meant was more a mechanism is running with some randomness built in. We study science to learn both the mechanism and the probabily of reandomevents. What does knowledge of the particular events add to our understanding? devil: )