Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer

Gregory Currie, a professor of philosophy at the University of Nottingham, recently argued in the New York Times that we ought not to claim that literature improves us as people, because there is no “compelling evidence that suggests that people are morally or socially better for reading Tolstoy” or other great books.

Actually, there is such evidence. Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, reported instudies published in 2006 and 2009 that individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and view the world from their perspective. This link persisted even after the researchers factored in the possibility that more empathetic individuals might choose to read more novels. A 2010 study by Mar found a similar result in young children: the more stories they had read to them, the keener their “theory of mind,” or mental model of other people’s intentions.

“Deep reading” — as opposed to the often superficial reading we do on the Web — is an endangered practice, one we ought to take steps to preserve as we would a historic building or a significant work of art. Its disappearance would imperil the intellectual and emotional development of generations growing up online, as well as the perpetuation of a critical part of our culture: the novels, poems and other kinds of literature that can be appreciated only by readers whose brains, quite literally, have been trained to apprehend them.

(MORE: Oprah as Harvard’s Commencement Speaker Is an Endorsement of Phony Science)

Recent research in cognitive science, psychology and neuroscience has demonstrated that deep reading — slow, immersive, rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity — is a distinctive experience, different in kind from the mere decoding of words. Although deep reading does not, strictly speaking, require a conventional book, the built-in limits of the printed page are uniquely conducive to the deep reading experience. A book’s lack of hyperlinks, for example, frees the reader from making decisions — Should I click on this link or not? — allowing her to remain fully immersed in the narrative.

That immersion is supported by the way the brain handles language rich in detail, allusion and metaphor: by creating a mental representation that draws on the same brain regions that would be active if the scene were unfolding in real life. The emotional situations and moral dilemmas that are the stuff of literature are also vigorous exercise for the brain, propelling us inside the heads of fictional characters and even, studies suggest, increasing our real-life capacity for empathy.

None of this is likely to happen when we’re scrolling through TMZ. Although we call the activity by the same name, the deep reading of books and the information-driven reading we do on the Web are very different, both in the experience they produce and in the capacities they develop. A growing body of evidence suggests that online reading may be less engaging and less satisfying, even for the “digital natives” for whom it is so familiar. Last month, for example, Britain’s National Literacy Trust released the results of a study of 34,910 young people aged 8 to 16. Researchers reported that 39% of children and teens read daily using electronic devices, but only 28% read printed materials every day. Those who read only onscreen were three times less likely to say they enjoy reading very much and a third less likely to have a favorite book. The study also found that young people who read daily only onscreen were nearly two times less likely to be above-average readers than those who read daily in print or both in print and onscreen.

(MORE: Why Americans Need Spelling Bees and Vocabulary Tests)

To understand why we should be concerned about how young people read, and not just whether they’re reading at all, it helps to know something about the way the ability to read evolved. “Human beings were never born to read,” notes Maryanne Wolf, director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University and authorof Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Unlike the ability to understand and produce spoken language, which under normal circumstances will unfold according to a program dictated by our genes, the ability to read must be painstakingly acquired by each individual. The “reading circuits” we construct are recruited from structures in the brain that evolved for other purposes — and these circuits can be feeble or they can be robust, depending on how often and how vigorously we use them.

The deep reader, protected from distractions and attuned to the nuances of language, enters a state that psychologist Victor Nell, in a study of the psychology of pleasure reading, likens to a hypnotic trance. Nell found that when readers are enjoying the experience the most, the pace of their reading actually slows. The combination of fast, fluent decoding of words and slow, unhurried progress on the page gives deep readers time to enrich their reading with reflection, analysis, and their own memories and opinions. It gives them time to establish an intimate relationship with the author, the two of them engaged in an extended and ardent conversation like people falling in love.

(PHOTOS: Peter Hapak’s Portraits of Authors)

This is not reading as many young people are coming to know it. Their reading is pragmatic and instrumental: the difference between what literary critic Frank Kermode calls “carnal reading” and “spiritual reading.” If we allow our offspring to believe carnal reading is all there is — if we don’t open the door to spiritual reading, through an early insistence on discipline and practice — we will have cheated them of an enjoyable, even ecstatic experience they would not otherwise encounter. And we will have deprived them of an elevating and enlightening experience that will enlarge them as people. Observing young people’s attachment to digital devices, some progressive educators and permissive parents talk about needing to “meet kids where they are,” molding instruction around their onscreen habits. This is mistaken. We need, rather, to show them someplace they’ve never been, a place only deep reading can take them.

MORE: Why E-Reading With Your Kid Can Impede Learning

This article is from the Brilliant Report, a weekly newsletter written by Murphy Paul

Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer

Intertextuality in Fowles' The Collector

            The Collector of John Fowles, who is generally attributed as a Post-Modernist writer, was published in 1963. While writing to book, Fowles was inspired from a real story of Bartok’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle with a contemporary newspaper report. He says in Woodcock (1984; 27) that: “ a boy who captured a girl and imprisoned her in an air-raid shelter at the end of his gar- den ... there were many peculiar features about this case that fascinated me.” In the novel some characteristics of Post-Modernist Literature is used such as intertextuality . Shakespeare's play The Tempest, The Old Man of The Sea in story of Sinbad the Sailor from One Thousand and One Nights, Jane Austen's novel Emma are some of the most significant literary works which are mentioned in The Collector.

             The first inter-text in The Collector is Shakespeare's play The Tempest, which is obvious through the Miranda' s and Fredrick Clegg' s names. Firstly, Miranda is the daughter of the Prospero in The Tempest. She is stucked in an island, because his father is exiled from Milan where he was a duke in the play. Similarly, Miranda inThe Collector is abducted by the anti-hero of the novel and stucked in a cellar. The lowering standards of being in an island is not so different than being kept in a cellar. They both are isolated from the civilization where they are supposed to belong because of their gender. While Miranda in The Tempest reaches to happiness and gets married to man she loves, Miranda in The Collector dies because of malaria without seeing the light which she looks forward to from these quotations: “ The thing I miss most is fresh light. I can’t live without light.” and “ I could see daylight through a keyhole.” Secondly, the name of anti-hero Fredrick Clegg is also an inter-text to the Shakespeare's play since the first name of Fredrick Clegg is Ferdinand, who gets married to Miranda in The Tempest ,and Clegg hopes to make Miranda falls in love with him. In the novel it is seen in this quotation:

“What’s your name?” she said. Clegg, I answered.“Your first name?” Ferdinand.However, unlike Ferdinand, Clegg never achieves his aim. Furthermore, after he reads Miranda's diary and learns what actually she thinks about him and hates her.

            In addition to his first name, Clegg is called Caliban in Miranda's diary, which creates another inter-text to The Tempest. Prospero tries to teach Caliban religion and language, but after Caliban tries to rape Miranda, he is treated like a monster. In The Collector, Clegg is tried to be educated by Miranda. She tries to increase his humanity and intellectuality.“You have money - as a matter of fact, you aren’t stupid, you could become whatever you liked. Only you’ve got to shake off the past. You’ve got to kill your aunt and the house you lived in and the people you lived with. You’ve got to be a new human being.” He is given a book which he stops reading. He also uses bad English which can be easily understood when his writing and Miranda's diary are compared. Clegg doesn't rape Miranda while Caliban in The Tempest tries it. However, he is still called as Caliban because of his narrow-mind, and psychological disorder by Miranda.

             Lastly, G.P whom Miranda loves in the novel can be linked with Prospero in The Tempest . They both are not young characters. Prospero has a daughter and lives in an island for years. G.P is earns his own money and he is elder than Miranda. Both of the characters are well-respected. Miranda praises G.P' s ideas about the collectors in the novel. “ G.P. saying that collectors were the worst animals of all. He meant art collectors, of course. But of course, he is right.” Prospero is the play's protagonist and he is a moral man. He admits to stop spell after he takes what he deserves and gives lesson to everyone. G.P 's name might also refer to Prospero as Great Prospero because sorcerers are generally called as great.

The second inter-text in The Collector is Jane Austen' s Emma. The heroin of Austen's novel is described as “handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable homeand happy disposition.” Miranda thinks herself like Emma and states her admiration that a few time in the novel. “I am Emma Woodhouse. I feel for her, of her and in her. I have a different sort of snobbism, but I understand her snobbism.” In this quotation, Miranda feels an instant connection between her and Emma because sometimes she looks down on Clegg who doesn't understand neither art nor literature like Emma's behaviors to lower class people. Miranda also tries to justify Emma's wrongs, which shows how she feels close herself to Emma.

“I know she does wrong things, she tries to organize other people’s live.Creative, determined to set the highest standards. A real human being. Her faults are my faults: her virtues I must make my virtues.” After finishing to book, Miranda matches the people in her life to the characters in the novel Emma. “Emma. The busi- ness of beingbetween inexperienced girl and experienced woman and the awful problem of the man. Caliban is Mr Elton. Piers is Frank Churchill. But is G.P. Mr Knightley?”

               Finally, the third inter-text in the novel is to the story of Sinbad the Sailor andOne Thousand and One Nights. In one of Sinbad's quest he is captured by Old Man of the Sea and makes him drunk to kill him. Miranda thinks Clegg is like Old Man of the Sea because he doesn't let her go. “I know what you are. You’re the Old Man of the Sea. The horrid old man Sinbad had to carry on his back. That’s what you are. You get on the back of everything vital, everything trying to be honest and free, and you bear it down.”

               To sum up, Fowles uses interxtuality in The Collector thanks to The Tempest, Sinbad the Sailor and Emma, which can be seen in the examples that I mentioned. 

Cengiz Güler

Comparison of Women in Love and The Shirt of Flame

20^th century is really important in literature as people had experienced a world war for the first time. Literature was affected because of the war in different ways in the world. For example, Modernism in Europe and Nationalism in Turkey occurred as literary movements. Writers in Europe thought the war changed the moral values of 19^th century and world needed to be changed. They rebelled against to novel frame of Victorianism and the fake conservativeness in the society. Women in Love is an example of modernist novels in which breaking some taboos of 19^th century and new type of novel writing can be seen. On the other hand, writers in Turkey wrote nationalist works to encourage society for an independence war in 20^th century. Their style was more basic and heroic as they intended to affect the whole society whose education wasn't so high in that time. Halide Edip Adivar 's “The Shirt of Flame” is one of the best examples of the Nationalism in Turkish Literature. In Women in Love there are four main characters and their love affairs to each other and their experiences during this process are narrated. In The Shirt of Flame there are three main characters and two men loves the same woman whose only aim is to fight for the sake of the country. In short, even if both Women in Love (1920) and The Shirt of Flame (1922) were published in 1920s, they are completely different works in terms of plot, narrative technique, theme and style.

            Firstly, even though both of the novel seem to based on the love, their concepts are different. In Women in Love the love that the writer talks about is about passion and desire. Hermione loves Burkin, but what she concerns is to control his life. She tries to kill Burkin with a paperweight when she invited her friends to her mansion as he changes her plans. Another example of passionate love in Lawrence's novel is Gerald's love for Gudrun. When they go to Alps with Burkin and Ursula, a German sculptor takes an interest in Gudrun. This affair frustrates Gerald and he asks the reason why Gudrun is also interested in Loerke and tries to strangle her. Passion of Gerald even drives him to death in the Alps. On the other hand, love theme is not about the passion or desire but patriotism. The heroin of the novel Ayşe looses her husband and child,when İzmir is invaded by the Greek. She rejects her suitors and just to get her two other main characters go to war. When İhsan confesses his love to Ayşe, she rejects it and says there is a shirt of flame on the country,so love is not an issue in that circumstance. Patriotism is stated even by the minor characters in Halide Edip's novel. Kezban, who looses her parents when Armenians attacked her village, is abducted by a villain who supports England. Kezban reveals where he hides to the Turkish army because he wants to kill them all. After this event, Kezban vanishes and probably dies. She puts her soul into danger for the sake of the independence.

            Secondly, narrative techniques of the writers are also different than each other. Lawrence uses third person point of view in Women in Love and gives so many quotations by the characters. He tells the details of the events and after that characters' own ideas are seen in inverted commas. Thanks to this, reader understands what the characters think and illustrates the atmosphere. Lawrence divides the novel into chapters, thanks to which reader is able to understand the concept of the events before they are read. On the contrary to Lawrence, Halide Edip uses a different narrative technique. She uses first person narration to make reader feel a huge sympathy for the main character, Peyami. All the events are derived from Peyami's diaries. Rather than dividing the story into chapters, Halide Edip divides them into days thanks to the diary and uses real chronology of Turkish History.

            Thirdly, themes of Women in Love and The Shirt of Flame are different as the writers intend different things. Main themes of Lawrence's novel are marriage and taboos in the society. At the beginning of the novel, he questions the marriage thanks to Gudrun who asks her sister Ursula that what she thinks about the marriage. Writer likely criticizes people who gets married to increase their social position and wealth,because Gudrun implies marriage can make people in a better position than they are in. However, her relationship with Gerald ends with a tragedy while Ursula gets married. Lawrence tries to deal with taboos in the society thanks to Rupert Birkin who has different ideas against the social norms. He says “There is no production in us now, only sordid and foul mechanicalness.” and criticizes the modern life. Birkin has also a gay tendency, which is revealed at the end of the novel. He says he wants a male partner,too. However, after Gerald dies this wish becomes impossible. In The Shirt of Flame main themes are patriotism and social union against The Entente Powers. Heroin of the novel, Ayşe, sacrifices her life for the country even if she has so many suitors who can make her rich and happy. She rejects all the proposals and goes to Anatolia to help soldiers as a nurse as she knows how to make suture. Her story affects people and she becomes a symbol for the independence of İzmir in the novel as she dedicates her life to country and becomes a martyr during the Sakarya Valley War against the Greek in Anatolia. People who supports to be ruled by England are criticized in the novel. The protagonist Peyami, who thinks ruled by England is the best, gets shocked when England bombs İstanbul and destroys so many things with their powerful air forces. After this he goes to a tea party and sees how Ayşe criticizes French ladies who scorn Turkish people and Turkish people with her good accent,which surprises the ladies.

            Finally, in terms of style both of the writers have different methods. Lawrence gives so many quotations so that reader sees what the character thinks. Lawrence states his characters individual thoughts. However, Halide Edip uses long descriptions about the events and diminishes the characters' personal life and thoughts most of the time. For example, she defines a path and people who to war in 5 pages with lots of simile and metaphor. This difference between the style's of the writers is because Lawrence uses modernist writing techniques while Halide Edip prefers realism to evoke people's feelings. Even if they have different styles, both Lawrence and Halide Edip reflect their life to their novels. Birkin is the reflection of Lawrence's life in Women in Love, since he has unconventional ideas about the life,which can easily be misunderstood such as having a male partner and dying rather than living in this world. Ayşe is the reflection of Halide Edip's life in The Shirt of Flame, because she knows some foreign languages and tries to convince people to fight against the enemy as she is good at rhetoric. Peyami can also be seen as a reflection of Halide Edip's life, because like Peyami, Halide Edip supported England at first,but then understood their aim is to change the language,religion and culture of Turkish society.

            Consequently, Women in Love and The Shirt of Flame were written in 1920s and writers gave what was needed to societies of their countries. I think literature is a part of the society and witness the history. In 1920s Turkey had to deal with its independence,so love or taboos was not an important issue for Turkish people in that time. Therefore, Halide Edip wrote her novel as it was what society demanded in that time. On the other hand, England did not have to fight for their independence, but deal with the effects of modern life and mechanization. Therefore, Lawrence wrote his ideas about those themes with a love theme. I liked writers different styles, but enjoyed more while reading The Shirt of Flame since it was like a history lesson and Halide Edip has good similes and metaphors,thanks to which I managed to live the war in my head.

Cengiz GÜLER

Sources that I used :

Mina URGAN – History of English Literature

http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/dh-lawrence/Women-in-Love.pdf

http://www.thesis.bilkent.edu.tr/0001676.pdf