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Literature

Are Narrative Worlds Real? Reflections on Metaphysics

May 22, 2023

creativity, fiction, literature, metaphysics, philosophy, reality

As a child, whenever I got emotionally affected watching a film or reading a story, my folks would try to console me saying “It’s not real, don’t worry”. That didn’t help at all. To me, narrative worlds were real, more real than reality itself. After all, fiction and reality are not antonyms.

When we talk about the reality of imaginary worlds – narrative worlds, in our case – the discussion seems moot. “Of course narrative worlds are not real”, any random observer would likely utter with – not misplaced – confidence.

After all, when you follow the characters of a video game, you can always save your progress and restore if something goes wrong. Similarly, when you read about a lonely female programmer plagued by indecision, her life never leaves the confines of the novel. You can’t meet that woman, her actions don’t dictate yours and can’t change the world.

Or… can they?

narrative worlds real — Are photos real? Even if they are made “traditionally”, using light passing through a lens (rather than being e.g. a computer render), where do we draw the line between “too much post-production” blurring (no pun intended) the lines between being real and being imaginary? Establishing the reality of narrative worlds faces similar puzzles

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Unfinished Books: Do It the Right Way!

February 27, 2023

Literature

book, criticism, fiction, literature

4 comments

Unfinished books are an inevitable part of reading. Perhaps you took a chance on a completely unknown author, or perhaps something everyone else praised just wasn’t for you. If we only read books we knew we’d like, we’d never discover anything new. Indeed, in some extreme expression of this strategy, we’d never read anything.

But is there a “right” way of abandoning a book you’ve started?

My own long (and occasionally painful) experience with unfinished books leads me to say: most definitely! This doesn’t mean there’s an objectively right or wrong way (hence the quotation marks above). As with everything else in literature, your mileage may vary. You are the sole authority on what “the right” way is, just as, if you’re a writer, you’re the sole authority on your own work. I’m here only to offer you the method; not the criteria.

And so, with this mini disclaimer out of the way, let’s see my way of dealing with unfinished books. You can then adapt it to your own preferences and make sure you’ll never abandon reading a book for the… wrong reasons!

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Teach Literature the Right Way

December 19, 2022

Literature

academia, criticism, fiction, literature, society

4 comments

The title of this post might make you think it’s not relevant to you if you’re not a literature teacher or a writing advisor. Not so fast. Though in this post I indeed share with you how to teach literature the right way – based on 12 years of university experience – the lessons are highly revealing to everyone who’s interested in literature.

If you’re a writer, you want better readers.

If you’re a reader, you want better books to read.

And of course, if you indeed teach literature – at any level and in any capacity, be it a college teacher or simply running a local book club – you will find plenty of interesting tips here. As I often say, I don’t claim to have the best (let alone the only) solutions. But my advice is honest, not trying to please audiences or sponsors (which I don’t have any).

I’ve divided the post into 3+1 short sections: The first three describe the foundations of how you could approach teaching literature to others; what goals to set, what methods to use, what to expect. The fourth one is a list of practical tips, based on my long and painful experience – as a student as well as a teacher.

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