Lock and Key or My Very Own Literary Hypothesis

Every time I pick a book up I: examine the cover, read the title, flip through the pages paying attention to page numbers and font, turn it over in my hands, examine the back, read the short synopsis and then I… put it back on the dusty shelf or I wipe the dust off and open it. What instigates me to place the book back on the shelf? What prompts me to open it and dive in? I obviously have expectations that the book has either met or has not, but what are they? Honestly, I never thought about it before, probably because a lot of my book-picking happened under the hood, in the subconscious and never required much deliberate thought. There are, inside me, profile contours and bitting cuts that the book had to match for me to leave it in my hand. But what are they and where did they come from?

In Italy, in the last century BC lived a man, Horace. He wrote many things, but among the most famous was the Epistolas Ad Pisones De Ars Poetica or Epistles to the Pisos, The Art of Poetry. He was not the first man, nor the last to dwell on the abysmal world of poetry. Yet it was his words and his beliefs, that I realized, gave birth to my own. Horace said, “It is not enough for poems to be beautiful; they must be affecting, and must lead the heart of the hearer as they will.” This means that literature is not to only have aesthetical value, but it must be deeper and touch the most secret parts of a reader’s heart. However he also pointed out the importance of a lesson in literature, reaching back to Plato and setting trends for both Plotinus and Boccaccio. “The aim of the poet is to inform or delight, or to combine together, in what he says, both pleasure and applicability to life. In instructing, be brief in what you say in order that your readers may grasp it quickly and retain it faithfully. Superfluous words simply spill out when the mind is already full. Fiction invented in order to please should remain close to reality.” To summarize, Horace expands on his first assertion and claims that a poet’s goal is to teach or entertain, or better yet, do both.

When reflecting back on my choices of books and my responses and reactions to them, I noticed a pattern and how could I not. I hate dystopian novels, despise works with inconclusive conclusions and loathe those that leave me stunned, empty and dubious. So what do I want? What do I believe about literature and what drives my choices? Here it is plain and simple. There are different types of literature, those that teach, entertain or involve. There are and should be those that do all three and there must be those that do one at a time. To break it down even more, a book must bring to its reader a lesson, satisfaction or hope. The books that teach will present a lesson. And… this is where I hear the protests rise from within my readers, so I will elaborate. The lesson that is presented does not have to be prescriptive, or in other words include a bunch of do’s and don’ts. The author could as easily have hidden a descriptive lesson within his work and this would mean we are placed before the fact of how things are. In Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy I believe the lesson is not “Thou shalt not cheat on your husband, for thou will end up under a train”, because that is not the sort of author Tolstoy is. Rather he teaches us of what it is like to have lived in a society back then, especially for women, having to live by double standards and being judged by every single member of society. Tolstoy writes it in such a way that we, readers, begin to judge Anna. This is crafted deliberately to strike us closer to home and present to us the reality of society, injustice and human nature.

The books whose purpose it is to entertain will bring satisfaction, whether by the means of allowing us to delve into a character’s life and letting us to live it out alongside them for a while or whether it is by the means of building mystery and conflict that is resolved in the end by a clever detective or a couple counselling sessions.

The books that involve the reader will leave the reader with hope. Period. Whether it is Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment or Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina or Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet there is always an aspect of hope hidden within. Sometimes it is as simple as the readers hoping the protagonist or antagonist will get the resolutions they deserve. Sometimes the text works more like a mirror and fills us with hope for ourselves, our families, our worlds and our futures. And then there is Romeo and Juliet which seem to bring down the validness of at least a third of my literary theory, because many will argue that tragedy does not give them hope. Yet, try to remember what you felt while reading the play and what emotions filled when you read the last act. It certainly was not all clear, light and sunlit, yet the Capulets and Montagues made up, century feuds were resolved and new opportunities were before those that learned from the mistakes of others. I believe that despite the sad ending for the two main protagonists, if I may rephrase the words of one wise man, “Hope can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn to the light” (any guesses who said this?).

These three components: lesson, satisfaction and hope, will, admittedly, exist in different proportions in different texts and these proportions will deviate from those in other works based on the purpose the author places in his work. When a novel, or a poem, possesses one of these characteristics disproportionally or solely, I believe it still has a right to existence in the literary universe. I believe that detective novels, science fiction and Harry Potter have the right to be christened literature. Some will argue that these types of texts do not really involve the reader, while others will argue that these text are not education or just plain shallow. My response is this. Some texts are like medicine. If we are to explore this analogy we must agree that the components of a certain prescription are much more concentrated in the bottle you hold, than in other of its manifestations. It is because this prescription, much like Harry Potter has a definite purpose and the disproportional components are to contribute to that purpose. This purpose is as noble, as the next because one way or the other it does cure the reader (or patient) of something. However, we must remember that medicine is prescribed to people with certain conditions and while it is necessary at certain times, overdosing on it often causes as much, or even more harm, than not taking it at all.  Therefore, I must conclude that the most powerful work of literature will involve a lesson, entertainment and hope, yet those works that focus on only one aspect at a time are still necessary components of the literary spectrum.

Earlier this year I disclosed my delight with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I believe that I got so much contentment and joy while reading this book because it fit perfectly into my literary theory.

Firstly, as readers we witness Elizabeth’s journey from a proud and prejudiced girl to a humble and gracious woman. The lessons she learns are there to teach us and Elizabeth to act as our guide. 

Secondly, the country setting, the family dynamics and the time period plunge us into the story, while the ending concludes Elizabeth’s journey and our adventure. As readers we cannot stay impartial or aloof. We become Elizabeth’s companions on her trips and we are her entourage at every ball.

And lastly, observing the evolution of the main character and her relationships, witnessing the timeless values lived out and seeing everyone get the ending they deserve fills us, readers, with hope for ourselves, our lives and the society we live in. 

Having reached back to Plato, Horace, Plotinus and Boccaccio in class and in my free readings allowed me to recognize the building blocks of my worldview and comprehend the reasons for my partiality to fairytales. I now understand what prompts me to flip through pages and look for pictures, or read the last sentence of the novel before reading the first or thirst for mystery in the works of literature I expose myself to. It is because I need to be taught. I want to be entertained and my curiosity needs to be satisfied. I want to find a ray of sunshine in the literature I read that could illuminate to me my life and the lives of those around me. I yearn for hope. I strive to see the best in people, while seeing the world around me the way it is. I want to be involved in a conversation and put “my oar in”. I want to be a reader. I want to be a writer. I want to be a hoper and make others hope for the best too.