Of all the fine arts, there is one media with which most students have an unfortunate relationship. With its mandatory courses in all elementary and secondary school systems, it often becomes the nightmare that keeps students awake at night, the experience turning nigh on traumatic for many, and after graduating most never wish to take a look at this fantastic form of art again. Yet the world of the written arts holds such wonder and potential that I find this sad state of affairs to be truly tragic.
Years of ‘analyzing’ the famous written works of our adolescence, from The Lord of the Flies to Romeo and Juliet has left a foul taste in almost everyone’s mouth– and understandably, as it is often reduced to the hoop-jumping you are asked to do in order to pass. The restrictions that come from the limited works that are chosen does not help either, for everyone’s taste in literature is just as broad as their personalities, and fortunately the media caters to each and everyone’s needs.
One of the things that, from my perspective, sets the art of words apart from the other arts is the intimacy that it bears. There’s an exclusivity that comes between the one-on-one nature between reader and writer that cannot be achieved in the other mediums, which are enjoyed in both group and individual settings. Writing provides an opportunity for authors to share their ideas and dreams to an unlimited number of people, even those who did not exist until after they died, and speak to them directly in a manner that will ensure that they have their undivided attention. Few other mediums have as great of a potential in terms of impacting the audience directly. Readers invest their time when reading, and– consciously or unconsciously – choose to consider and contemplate the thoughts and words of a completely foreign mind. It is truly one of the greatest marvels of human consciousness.
Perhaps the most familiar in the realm of written works is the comforting prose of novels and short stories. Depending on the nature of the story, the reader can find themselves in a world quite like their own, or drawn into an entirely different realm, fabricated entirely by the author, sometimes in staggering depth, and available for public consumption. The depth of Tolkien’s creation, for example, is simply mind-boggling in terms of the details and history that he put into adding extra dimensions to his universe, even inventing entirely new languages for his works.
The primary goal of all writing is to stimulate some level of empathy in the reader towards the characters, or at the very least to stimulate more complex thoughts to something that may have once seemed plain and clean-cut. Often, this is done via a layer of development that most people can relate to– be it the internal struggles a character has to face, or the external obstacles that causes them. Without this element of understanding, it is often hard for a reader to sympathize with the character, and will many times be the deciding factor if the reader enjoys the story.
Of course, the writing itself is hugely significant, just at the journey often plays a larger role than the destination. The author has many tools and methods that they can use to try and connect with the reader on a second level, that surpasses the first obvious layer. This is where all of the words that high school analyses taught us come into play – metaphor, symbolism, allegory, motifs, chiasmus, juxtapositions, foreshadowing, irony, archetypes, allusions… all are components of the author’s rhetoric, or his attempt to persuade the audience to one end or another. Normally, it is with these tools that the author conveys their ‘true’ intentions– the theme or lesson that they hope to convey. One might not even recognize the process, but the subtle implications that come through word choice can nudge someone’s opinion into a direction of the author’s choosing– a simple example being foreshadowing a surprisingly sincere ulterior motive in what appeared to be a selfish character.
But there is a lighter side to writing as well, without the morals or philosophy aspects. There is a tasteful beauty to all forms of writing, sometimes song-like in the fact that it can have rhythmic and tonic elements, even outside of poetry. One of my personal favourite novels illustrates this perfectly – Shoeless Joe, by W.P. Kinsella. Despite an exterior appearance of being a baseball novel, I found the lyrical nature of the prose the true gift of the novel. It was not a fast, plot-driven work, which made reading less about getting to the next event and more about enjoying each paragraph and description that the author so clearly poured his heart into perfecting. It is almost a direct view into the mind of the author, giving a window into the eyes of a fan of the purest essence of baseball– someone who was truly in love with the game. Its story was not about baseball, but about the love of baseball, and how much such a love can help guide people through difficult times, speaking about forgiveness and childhood dreams.
The world of literature is incredibly vast, and thus trying to name a few of the greatest writers or novels becomes simply a matter of personal preference. Yet we must appreciate the dedication and hard work that authors have put into writing for our own enjoyment, and our incredible privilege of being capable of reading and interpreting them – two things that we may far too often take for granted.
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