It's Become a Discipline

“On the one hand, reading literature . . . has become a “discipline,” . . .

On the other hand, . . . it is thought to be a frivolous entertainment not much connected to “real life.”

- Gold, Joseph. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 5

Literature is connected to real life. It is not frivolous and it is not regulated to scholars. Story is something that everyone understands. I believe that story is, in fact, the nature of reality. I am in the process of collecting my thoughts and other people’s thoughts on this subject. It is a fascinating topic and there are literally hundreds of quotations on this subject that I have already collected.

The book from which I took this quotation discusses how we can use literature as a coping mechanism in our daily lives. The doctor who wrote it uses literature in his therapy. I think this is a great idea. Stories have been used to educate since the beginning of time. Stories help us to understand all sort of universal truths.