Tragedy is everywhere. It is the grief of losing a family member or of losing a significant friendship. It is monetary hardship and a combative home life. It can quite simply be the feeling of being alone. No one is above tragedy and unfortunately, no one can give it a pass. Even further, it seems that technology now acts as a stage for tragedy around the world. We come to realise the futility of many political leaders, we learn of the worsening case of climate change, we mourn for those around the globe in conflict and fundamentally we conclude that the problems in our own lives are only a small percentage of what we now worry about.
This is where literature comes in to save the day. For many, it becomes a vehicle to escape the realities of this world. Perhaps the magical realm of Harry Potter or Narnia facilitates this. For others, like myself, it reminds us that this has all happened before. I am not the only one who has felt at a loss, not sure as to what my life will look like. I am also not the only one to be disheartened and hurt by the actions of others. I see my life reflected, in some capacity, in the literature I read, and it allows me to explore how I truly feel about it: it becomes a crucial navigator and comforter for difficult times.
I’m sure every reader can think of a horrendously boring book they were forced to read at school that provided them no insight or enjoyment. For these cases, I suggest it is not the problem of what they were reading but how it related to them. I personally find no comfort in reading Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, for example, as it was born out of the fear of a changing world and what that meant for upper-class society. On the other hand, I am deeply moved by Douglas Stewart’s Shuggie Bain or Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. They explore the heartache of human relationships and made me realise the beauty that can be found in the darkest of moments. Whilst others would look at these texts and find them miserable and sad, I found them comforting and beautiful.
I therefore plead with the reader to find the literature that speaks to them. To find a book or a poem that is transformative, either by the alternative world it presents you with, or by the commentary it provides on the world we live in.
F Scott Fitzgerald asserted: “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
“Boy comfortably reading a book” by Javier Perez Montes is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0