Well, I agree that there's a definite hierarchy in people's minds about what constitutes worthy reading. Nonfiction (and specific subcategories among such) seems to be at the top of the hierarchy. Reading history, etc. seems to be the way you prove you're an intellectual. (Now, whether you're able to draw any lessons from what you read is another question altogether.)
My husband suggests that I (and a friend) probably experience fiction a bit differently than the people who write articles talking about how we need to read deep fiction. So, you probably cannot get me to read the Mayor of Casterbridge. It was on the syllabus of an English class I took in college, but we didn't get to it. (I would have read it if required, but, given I escaped that, I'm not going to bother.) I probably wouldn't jump at Tess of the d'Urbervilles, either.
I identify very strongly with viewpoint characters in fiction. If I find them unlikable, I don't want to read the book. Given that I identify with them, I don't like to see them suffer. (If they suffer and get a happy ending, I'm okay. If they get a happy ending and book 2 brings them back to more suffering... not so much.) So, I really don't find "how someone deals with suffering" or "seeing how bad the world is" to be a valid reason for me to read a book; I don't find it uplifting, I find it depressing and exhausting. I can take a non-viewpoint character suffering, because there's more distance. ...But, again, I don't really want to read fiction to see how miserable the world is.
If I want to see how someone deals with suffering or how bad the world is... I read nonfiction. That allows me more distance. I can still empathize with the real people, of course, but I don't get as trapped in it as I do in fiction.
I will occasionally read biographies, but I'm not clear why biographies are of particularly more value than any other nonfiction. Am I supposed to pattern my life after someone in a biography? Admire them because they are great? See how we are similar or dissimilar? I really don't get why they're specifically more valuable than anything else.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-06-19 12:43 am (UTC)(One of the books I keep meaning to buy on this subject is highbrow/lowbrow: http://www.amazon.com/Highbrow-Lowbrow-Emergence-Hierarchy-Civilization/dp/0674390776/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403137879&sr=1-1&keywords=highbrow+lowbrow. I haven't gotten around to it yet.)
My husband suggests that I (and a friend) probably experience fiction a bit differently than the people who write articles talking about how we need to read deep fiction. So, you probably cannot get me to read the Mayor of Casterbridge. It was on the syllabus of an English class I took in college, but we didn't get to it. (I would have read it if required, but, given I escaped that, I'm not going to bother.) I probably wouldn't jump at Tess of the d'Urbervilles, either.
I identify very strongly with viewpoint characters in fiction. If I find them unlikable, I don't want to read the book. Given that I identify with them, I don't like to see them suffer. (If they suffer and get a happy ending, I'm okay. If they get a happy ending and book 2 brings them back to more suffering... not so much.) So, I really don't find "how someone deals with suffering" or "seeing how bad the world is" to be a valid reason for me to read a book; I don't find it uplifting, I find it depressing and exhausting. I can take a non-viewpoint character suffering, because there's more distance. ...But, again, I don't really want to read fiction to see how miserable the world is.
If I want to see how someone deals with suffering or how bad the world is... I read nonfiction. That allows me more distance. I can still empathize with the real people, of course, but I don't get as trapped in it as I do in fiction.
I will occasionally read biographies, but I'm not clear why biographies are of particularly more value than any other nonfiction. Am I supposed to pattern my life after someone in a biography? Admire them because they are great? See how we are similar or dissimilar? I really don't get why they're specifically more valuable than anything else.