3 Why Read Literature?
In the age of social media and streaming television services, literature might seem like a relic of the past. Indeed, fewer people are reading literature than ever. According to an article published in the Washington Post, “in 2015, 43 percent of adults read at least one work of literature in the previous year. That’s the lowest percentage in any year since NEA surveys began tracking reading and arts participation in 1982 when the literature reading rate was 57 percent” (Ingraham). If the decline of literature-reading in adults isn’t the death knoll of literature, the decline in teenagers might be. According to NPR, in a recently conducted poll, “nearly half of 17-year-olds say they read for pleasure no more than one or two times a year — if that” (Ludden). How many books have you read this year? How many poems? In this fast-paced dopamine-fueled media landscape, it’s difficult for stinky old books to compete.
But this is hardly a new problem (if it’s even a problem at all).
Consider the words of master-of-clapbacks Sir Philip Sidney, poet, critic, and diplomat from the late 1500s and early 1600s. After the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, many people saw the proliferation of novels and plays as morally poisonous. Talking heads of the time argued that poetry and literature were a waste of time. They questioned the purpose of fictional works. Sidney responded with a scathing literary smack-down to the haters. He argued the poet has a special talent to create new, beautiful worlds that no other professional can claim, and that those who question the purpose of poetry have “earth-creeping” minds and are “momes” (AKA fools, smooth-brains). He further stated that he hopes these momes never get “favor” (love) because they don’t know how to write sonnets to woo their love interests and that they don’t get an epitaph on their graves, because that is the poet’s job. Ouch, harsh.
In today’s world, it seems that Sidney would probably consider most people momes. After all, very few of us read or appreciate poetry regularly. Most of our reading and writing is done on the internet: in the forms of Facebook posts, memes, tweets, snapchats, Tik Tok videos, and viral news. In response to this trend, some claim that literature is dead (Breuklander). Indeed, if we define literature as only printed novels and poetry, perhaps it is, for all intents and purposes, dead. But… what if we were to define literature as Sidney did–a creation made from the “zodiac of [the poet’s] own wit,” improving upon nature itself through invention? Might some of today’s internet media fall into that definition?
No matter the reader, no matter the writer, no matter the genre, literature is a cultural relic, a manifestation of the human experience. Thus, it can teach us things about our society and about ourselves we might not be able to learn from other types of media. It enables us to experience and discuss ideas from the safety of our armchairs, to project ourselves onto characters and environments, to explore worlds and lived experiences we otherwise would never have the opportunity to experience.
Additionally, data suggests reading literature benefits us in profound ways.
Benefits of Literature
Hear it straight from a few contemporary authors…
Yann M. Tanoé – The Role of Literature
Mary Gaitskill – Not All Kink and Gloom
David Foster Wallace on Literature
John Green – How I Read and Why
What the Research Shows
Additionally, studies show reading literature may help:
- promote empathy and social skills (Castano and Kidd)
- alleviate symptoms of depression (Billington et al.)
- business leaders succeed (Coleman)
- prevent dementia by stimulating the mind (Thorpe)
These are just a few of the studied benefits of literature. As we continue to gain increasing complexity in terms of measuring brain activity and developing other tools to measure brain function, scientists may find more benefits.
“Science Shows Something Surprising about People Who Still Read Fiction” further provides evidence supporting the measurable benefits that reading literature appears to provide.
Works Cited
Billington, Josie, Dowrick, Christopher, Hamer, Andrew, Robinson, Jude and Clare Williams. An investigation into the therapeutic benefits of reading in relation to depression and well-being. Liverpool Health Inequalities Research Institute. University of Liverpool, Nov. 2010. https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/iphs/web_version_therapeutic_benefits_of_reading_final_report_Mar.pdf
Breuklander, Joel. “Literature is Dead (According to Straight, White Guys at Least).” The Atlantic, 18 July 2013. Web. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/literature-is-dead-according-to-straight-white-guys-at-least/277906/ Accessed 12 August 2018
Castano, Emanuele and David Kidd. “Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind.” Science. 18 Oct. 2013;342(6156):377-80.
Coleman, John. “The Benefits of Poetry for Professionals.” Harvard Business Review, 2012. https://hbr.org/2012/11/the-benefits-of-poetry-for-pro
Ingraham, Christopher. “The long, steady decline of literary reading.” The Washington Post, 7 Sep 2016. Web. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/07/the-long-steady-decline-of-literary-reading/?utm_term=.ad2fa9146ec0 Accessed 2 August 2018.
Ludden, Jennifer. “Why Aren’t Teens Reading Like They Used To?” NPR. 12 May 2014. https://www.npr.org/2014/05/12/311111701/why-arent-teens-reading-like-they-used-to
Accessed 02 August 2018.
Thorpe, J.R. “Why Reading Poetry Is Good For Your Brain.” Bustle, 20 Apr. 2017. https://www.bustle.com/p/why-reading-poetry-is-good-for-your-brain-51884
Sidney, Sir Philip. The Defense of Poesy. The Poetry Foundation. 13 Oct. 2009. Web. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69375/the-defence-of-poesy Accessed 2 August 2018.
Attributions
“Why Read Literature?” is adapted from 1.2: Why Read and Write About Literature? , shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license, authored, remixed, and/or curated by Heather Ringo & Athena Kashyap Links to an external site. (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative.)
