After reading the essays as part of the assignment, one can see that there is a common theme throughout them. This is the concept of reading for transformation.
“Why Read Literature” starts as an introduction to this idea stating that “we are not merely empty receptacles ready to be filled with information, but living beings who are inspired by literary encounters to explore and transform ourselves.” Literature lets us live in a way that we have always dreamed of but were never able to achieve or gives us a new perspective on life that allows us to feel more connected to the world. I like the quote that is used by C.S. Lewis--“We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to fell with other hearts, as well as with our own.” I think this shows how personal literature can become in one’s life and how impacted and inspired it allows us to be.
The next essay, “Reading for Transformation…,” introduces poetry and literature as a more “spiritual practice.” It is explained, by exemplifying Francis X. McAloon’s method of deciphering poetry, or his “lectio,” that one’s interaction with text becomes deeper as well as one’s connection with self and God. I like the aspect of the essay that discusses the “three-fold blessing.” This discusses how the reading of literature or poetry can “offer us: words that give voice to previously unspoken thoughts and feelings, worlds of new possibility, and the invitation to greater and deeper self-awareness. It’s pretty cool to see how something such as literature, which is apart from the Bible, can present a new method of daily renewal and deeper relationship with God while also “enriching the world” through our perspective as well as our relationships. It makes me think in what other ways can we learn to grow through tasks that we pass off as informative or participate in just for the fun of it? I think by reading these essays one can see how important transformation through literature can be.
I think your last phrase is particularly apt: literature can be transformative, etc. It depends on a lot of things, though, as to whether that will happen. What you read, how you read it, how well prepared you are to read it, what your purpose in reading is, and where you are in your life. But, even with all those contingencies, the way I want to read literature--and how you might consider reading it--is with the intention of being made different.
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