tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576657225700093690.post5787178338268676392..comments2023-10-25T13:10:31.700+05:30Comments on Author's Diction~Dr. Vipin Behari Goyal: Fiction and PhilosophyVipin Behari Goyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04672882236296778945noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576657225700093690.post-19352386313092525712016-03-03T21:58:17.369+05:302016-03-03T21:58:17.369+05:30I appreciate your views.I appreciate your views.Vipin Behari Goyalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04672882236296778945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576657225700093690.post-63779401240127610102013-09-21T23:04:43.340+05:302013-09-21T23:04:43.340+05:30I think I would have to disagree with you. Just be...I think I would have to disagree with you. Just because a story doesn't have any philosophy doesn't mean you learn nothing from it. Also, you'd have to think of philosophy in a very narrow scope to make that statement. Thrillers or mysteries or suspense can also provide sustenance to the soul. To call them ugly is akin to saying that only certain things are beautiful. Literature is all about seeing the beauty in the ugly. <br /><br />Reading as a means of escapism is how fiction and literature originally evolved. In the bygone eras when people had limited means of entertainment, it was books that came to the rescue and offered a respite. By your definition, writers like Doyle or Agatha Christie or even our very own Satyajit Ray might be considered to propogate 'ugly imagination.' They did not start writing to impart philosophy or define good literature, they wrote to entertain and are hailed as classics because they transformed the minds of innumerable people over generations. They encouraged people to read and over the years, they trained people to see nuances. Fiction is supposed to be a means of escaping the world one inhabits and entering another, thereby providing a cushion for the mind to ponder numerous human interactions. It offers us the opportunity to live innumerable lives that we cannot live outside of our minds. It teaches us to look at things from different perspectives and to be less judgemental and more open to the world and its nuances.<br /><br />Literature, even at its very worst [and here, I refer to the trainwreck that is 50 shades] can offer its readers with a perspective – on life, on the psyche of the writer, of a culture and so much more. For all its crap, 50 shades transcends being a book and has become a cultural phenomena. For a book to influence lives the way it does, or any book does for that matter, is the purpose of reading.<br /><br />I understand and subscribe to your ideology of appreciating nature. But I have to admit, it's not an easy and do-able prospect and can be a lot of hard work for most people. Escaping this world by reading a thriller or by absorbing the stillness of nature are mere means of escaping. To call one inferior to the other feels incredibly short-sighted.<br /><br />I do however understand your stance on the kind of trash being published these days. While I do not enjoy them myself, I do understand that there are many kind of people who seek that enjoyment and fiction – of all kinds – has taught me tolerance.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com