Wow! Yes. And sometimes it takes a little time to really understand the intimacy, the whole meaning, doesn't it? How many times have I read a book saying "Nice story." Read it again a couple more times and said, "Oh. THAT was the message." I remember, for example, reading Hesse's Siddartha at age 17, and upon reading it again at 30, I found a completely different story within those covers. Then, too, when I write I often do not know what I am writing about until I am finished! I think I'm writing about one thing and am surprised that that was not it at all. Maybe others experience this? Words. I love words.
Well put Charles. A good story rings a bell deep within us, rings it so clearly that sometimes we can hear it for years afterwards. And not just a novel--your piece the other day about being viewed with horror in the subway rang that bell for me too.
And this is why I worry about today’s short attention spans and entrenched addiction to social media. A tweet or brief YouTube video might hint at an idea, but a well-written novel exposes all the nuance and dimensions of a good story, hopefully coalescing around a grand insight, lesson, or deeper understanding.
Wow! Yes. And sometimes it takes a little time to really understand the intimacy, the whole meaning, doesn't it? How many times have I read a book saying "Nice story." Read it again a couple more times and said, "Oh. THAT was the message." I remember, for example, reading Hesse's Siddartha at age 17, and upon reading it again at 30, I found a completely different story within those covers. Then, too, when I write I often do not know what I am writing about until I am finished! I think I'm writing about one thing and am surprised that that was not it at all. Maybe others experience this? Words. I love words.
Well put Charles. A good story rings a bell deep within us, rings it so clearly that sometimes we can hear it for years afterwards. And not just a novel--your piece the other day about being viewed with horror in the subway rang that bell for me too.
You are my favorite philosopher.
And this is why I worry about today’s short attention spans and entrenched addiction to social media. A tweet or brief YouTube video might hint at an idea, but a well-written novel exposes all the nuance and dimensions of a good story, hopefully coalescing around a grand insight, lesson, or deeper understanding.
Ah man, I felt this on a “guess you gotta have felt it” level
Borrowing from the clandestine community. “Hallway Intelligence”