Jack King's Blog, page 7

Does Fiction Open Closed Minds?

“One question tackled in this study is whether reading nonfictional texts such as essays has effects on belief processing that are different from those of reading fictional texts such as short stories. In both cases, a reader tries to understand another’s thinking (and feeling). The difference, though, is that in nonfiction there is a clear delineation between the author’s and the reader’s opinions, such that the reader is either persuaded or not by the author’s arguments and stances. With no...

Infinite World Awaits Your Discovery

When we read books our world becomes infinite:

“We realise it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated. The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others. Reality, even seen through the eyes of many, is not enough. I will see what others have invented. Even the eyes of all humanity ar...

Modern writers are stylistic clones

American mathematicians … set out to investigate “large-scale” trends in literary style. … they processed 7,733 works from 537 authors written after the year 1550, were looking for the frequency at which 307 “content-free” words ��� such as “of”, “at” and “by” ��� appeared. They called these words the “syntactic glue” of language: “words that carry little meaning on their own but form the bridge between words that convey meaning”, and thus “provide a useful stylistic fingerprint” for authorsh...

Books – The Cumulative Wisdom of Mankind

“People buy books, borrow books from libraries or friends, inherit books from family members across the generations, start their own book collections or receive books as gifts. People also give books as gifts to share and enjoy knowledge and build a kind of knowledge and insight community, looking at the world and its beauty and challenges from different lenses, portals and windows of the mind and heart.”��

“There is a bonding between the giver and receiver of books.�� When we receive books as...

The Science and the Art of Arranging a Home Library

A library that is not arranged becomes disarranged…

In practice, every library is ordered starting from acombination of these modes of classification, whose relative weighting, resistance to change, obsolescence, and persistence give every library aunique personality.

We should first of all distinguish stable classifications from provisional ones. Stable classifications are those which, in principle, you continue to respect; provisional classifications are those supposed to last only afew days,...

What are we without stories

Stories serve as the foundation of any intelligent society. Stories serve not only to entertain, but also to instruct, to inform and to engage. Stories have substance; they contain characters that we can empathize with, plot lines we can relate to and life lessons we can learn without actually having to make the mistakes ourselves.

When we read we think, we imagine and we dream. Take that away and what would we become as a society? We need books to inspire us, to challenge our way of thinking,...

Read Books to Unleash your Emotions

Have you ever hated a book that kept you awake all night? Has a book you didn’t enjoy ever brought you to tears? An author’s job is to make you cry, make you laugh, and make you late for work.

Fiction writers deliberately encourage us to see the world through someone else’s point of view, or experience characters’ emotions in a visceral way — and that’s the essence of empathy.”

Consider the statement: “I know how you feel.” While separate, our models of the world have to be similar enough for u...

Writers Must be Independent of Institutions

Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work “rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth”. He refused it, citing both personal and objective reasons[...]

Assuring the press that his decision was not an “impulsive gesture”, one of the reasons Sartre gave for rejecting the prize stemmed from his habit of refusing all official honours.

Sartre believed every individual is responsible for creating a purpose for their life. By accepting the prize, Sar...

Western Writers Cut Off From Society

“Western literature is being impoverished by financial support for writers and by creative writing programmes, according to a series of blistering comments fromSwedish Academy member Horace Engdahl, speaking shortly before the winner of the Nobel prize for literature is awarded.”

“In aninterview with French paper La Croix, Engdahl said that the “professionalisation” of the job of the writer, via grants and financial support, was having a negative effect on literature. “Even though I understand...

The Sorrows of a Young[ish] Writer

“From the moment I start a new novel, life’s justone endless torture. The first few chapters may go fairly welland I may feel there’s still chance to prove my worth, butthat feeling soon disappears and every day I feel less and less satisfied. I begin to say the book’s no good, far inferior to myearlier ones, until I’ve wrung torture out of every page,every sentence, every word, and the very commas and fullstops look excruciatingly ugly. Then, when it’s finished,when it’s finished, what a relief...