What's So Great About Great Literature

“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.” 
― Ernest Hemingway

 In Buddhism, there are four stages of enlightenment culminating in the attainment of Nirvana. I think understanding great literature comes in stages as well. The first time I read The Scarlet Letter I was in eighth grade. I finished it in about a day or so and after I was finished I didn't think much about it. I didn't dislike the novel but it really didn't affect me in any way. However, when I read it again as part of our school's 11th grade curriculum, I found myself extremely moved by the relationship of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. When I heard my classmates describe the book as uninteresting, unsurprising, and overdramatic I was very confused. 

I think that when a great writer tells a story they are giving you a piece of truth. But such truth can only be attained when one has reached a stage where they are able to understand the authors and the characters in the story. It's hard to be moved by a book when you only think of it as a plotline; a series of two-dimensional characters whose experiences are as far removed from your own as the kings that reigned a thousand years ago or the elephants in Africa. 

When I was younger it was very difficult for me to be moved by anything I'd read. I read Don Quixote, Moby Dick, and The Great Gatsby indifferently. I felt a sense of accomplishment at having finished such highly regarded works but nothing more. Now however, I realize that that sense of accomplishment was unjustified. All that I gained from such superficial reading was a slightly more sophisticated vocabulary and an antiquated writing style. 

 I can't quite say when I really began to read great literature; when characters such as Jane Eyre, Rodion Raskolnikov, and Lily Bart began to inspire weeks of reflection and emotions I had previously only experienced due to events that had actually happened to me personally. I'm not quite sure when my perspective on literature changed but I think when it did, I became, in a way, more enlightened. I don't want to pretend I'm a deep, spiritual person who is in some way superior to those who read books such as The Scarlet Letter and Crime and Punishment and are as unaffected and unmoved as when they pulled the book from the shelf. But I do feel that because of the way literature has affected me, I see the world in a way that makes me a happier and more complete human being. I don't believe that I've reached the highest stage of understanding when it comes to literature, but I believe that I'm better off today than I was in eighth grade. What's so beautiful about literature, and I think this applies to art and music as well, is that when you really understand it, when you achieve that state of enlightenment, you become a more complete human being because you are able to experience emotions and thoughts and ways of understanding, both new and old, that once belonged to other people and now belong to you as well. Classic novels are about more than having an impressive literary resume; they should change you in some way. We often hear about the importance of character growth in a story but what really makes great literature great is its ability to promote growth in the reader as well. 

Painting of the Day:

Four Trees by Egon Schiele