Literature must have limits

"Creative writing is an ethical question; literature, politics and pedagogy. ... literature is a part of cultural achievements of a society and both get affected by each other."

"Culture and literature are interlinked; literature is an outcome of culture. It is of the society, for the society and by the society."

“Literature is a sub system of a society. It is perpetuated by the society and in turn affects the society."

Therefore, and contrary to oft repeated arguments that literature ought to mirror society's ailments, a Professor of English at Delhi University argues that such literature must have limits, because:

"Every piece of literature is propaganda and is always written with some intention. However the freedom that a writer enjoys should not be absolute or is not absolute. It has certain limitations and those limitations need to be respected...

...as literature itself is an embodiment of the various values, traditions and culture of a particular society, civilization or a nation which it cherishes and holds in high-esteem for several generations."

More: http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2013/Mar/19/-a-writer-s-freedom-is-not-absolute--57.asp



SpyWriter Jack King, the author of:
Agents of Change, WikiJustice, The Black Vault, and The Fifth Internationale.
A new Pope. A new Church. A new world:


www.SpyWriter.com

The best work in literature

"The best work in literature is always done by those who do not depend on it for their daily bread and the highest form of literature, Poetry, brings no wealth to the singer. 

"Make some sacrifice for your art and you will be repaid but ask of art to sacrifice herself for you and a bitter disappointment may come."

Oscar Wilde, to an aspiring writer.



SpyWriter Jack King, the author of:
Agents of Change, WikiJustice, The Black Vault, and The Fifth Internationale.
A new Pope. A new Church. A new world:


www.SpyWriter.com

What readers look for in writers

"Aspiring authors, take note. 

Nothing secures a literary legacy like an over-sized personality to match the work. On some level, we want our artists to behave badly, feuding with critics and wearing, perhaps, less clothing than appropriate in public. We want to believe that being a talented, successful writer isn’t just another job, like being a plumber or an accountant—it's a lifestyle, or maybe even a curse.

Ultimately, the actual writing of the book isn't what's interesting to most people. If you can type, you can put words on a page. What we look for in the dramatic lives of artists is a hint of the origin of genius. Who wants to hear that what it takes to write a generation-defining novel is eight hours a day of work for three years, plus an editor worth her weight in gold? And if you're going to write a best-seller, please, for the love of schadenfreude, don't be a model of health and decorum as well. That's just too much."

More: http://m.wfpl.org/?utm_referrer=#mobile/4509



SpyWriter Jack King, the author of:
Agents of Change, WikiJustice, The Black Vault, and The Fifth Internationale.
A new Pope. A new Church. A new world:


www.SpyWriter.com

Dumbing down literature

"From Reader’s Digest to Cliff’s Notes to No Fear Shakespeare, simplified novels have infiltrated American society over generations. They seem innocent enough, flaunting an “easy to read” nature meant to appeal to those less versed in complex literature and language. However, while these watered down novels may be convenient for the busy, story-oriented adult reader, they are hardly appropriate for a class focused on critical reading. They’re a skewed kind of censorship that removes students from the benefits of difficult, close reading and dumbs down the English classroom.

Words are taken out that set the entire mood of the piece; phrases that define the moment and add depth to the author’s style are taken out. Removing these aspects eliminates the experience of analyzing the author’s intent and figuring out why that phrase or scene was deemed necessary."

From: http://tigernewspaper.com/wordpress/2013/03/14/the-dangers-of-watering-down-literature/



SpyWriter Jack King, the author of:
Agents of Change, WikiJustice, The Black Vault, and The Fifth Internationale.
A new Pope. A new Church. A new world:


www.SpyWriter.com

Read fiction to combat insomnia

"Insomnia seems to be becoming increasingly common, and good sleep hygiene ... plus a basic understanding of the nature of sleep ... can help us to return to a good regular sleep pattern...

The trick is to slip from the real world to the dream one, so lying there rigid with anxiety to achieve unconsciousness is never going to work.

Reading fiction, on the other hand, acts as a first breakaway from reality and gives the mind a first hold on the suppressed state of dream that is so firmly denied all day.

... steer clear of non-fiction books. Read to go into another world, and raise no resistance. Dream actually comes before sleep, and is the way in."

From: http://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/mar/13/cognitive-behaviour-therapy-suzanne-moore



SpyWriter Jack King, the author of:
Agents of Change, WikiJustice, The Black Vault, and The Fifth Internationale.
A new Pope. A new Church. A new world:


www.SpyWriter.com

Reading and social intelligence

"By the time we’re young adults, we’ve all intuited it to some degree: people who’re ardent readers of fiction seem to have the ability to engage with others in a manner that is completely lost on non-readers. A teenage boy-girl sibling combo might evidence a situation where the boy, whose extra-curricular life is dominated by sports, finds himself completely lost as he watches his fiction-loving sister routinely blend in with ease with both older contemporaries and adults at family gatherings, even having the occasional poignant conversation with a great-aunt or grandmother."

Why is it? Glad you asked:

"fiction-reading leads to one being more empathising and socially intelligent... reading fiction develops in one the ability to construct a map of the thoughts and feelings that are occurring in the minds of other people. This is what developmental psychologists refer to as ‘theory of mind’.

When one identifies with the emotions that are materialising in another person, it is called empathy, one of the core aspects of emotional intelligence...

fiction – and in particular narrative – is an exercise in empathy. In reading narrative, we join ourselves emotionally with the protagonist, in a manner experiencing his or her emotions as they navigate through the struggles in their lives. The overarching importance is in the fact that we, the reader, get to view situations from the articulated points-of-view of others.

Additionally, we lend ourselves to situations we have never yet experienced, understand the ways of people completely peculiar to us, and thus begin to acquire familiarity with such novelties that we may later face in life; novelties we would otherwise be helpless to understand except through one awkward effort at a time, usually exposing us to great friction with the unfamiliar environment first.In other words, reading provides us with: “the ability to sensitise…to the emotions of other people, transcending the limits of our own experiences and perspective”.

More: http://tribune.com.pk/story/518680/because-novel-readers-are-more-socially-intelligent/



SpyWriter Jack King, the author of:
Agents of Change, WikiJustice, The Black Vault, and The Fifth Internationale.
Coming soon:


www.SpyWriter.com

Would-be writers: No originality required.

A piece of advice for would-be writers:

"We ought to make the process of writing books seem less daunting to those who are starting out."

So, let us begin by scrapping the notion of originality...

"In a profession without rules, the one essential is that writers have to be magpies: bits of films, songs, other people's journalism, other people's books, conversations, someone they saw in the street are the flotsam and jetsam that are going to give shape and colour and inspiration to the story under construction. No writer in the history of the world is original, they all depend on other writers' work, or the narrative of a previous book, and that is the way it should be and always will be. First-time writers begin and give up because they think their work must be original. Nothing could be further from the truth. Can't think of a plot? Take a classic of literature or the theatre, rename the characters, move the location and bring it up to date."

FROM: http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/article.php?issue=20130308&page=23

Jack King is the author of Agents of Change, WikiJustice, The Black Vault, and The Fifth Internationale.