Transcriber: Wynn Li Reviewer: Sanntint Tint
So I’m a literature student,
and I’m currently living in Germany.
But I have also lived in
many different countries in the world.
I’ve lived in Mexico, in the U.S. , in Italy, in Japan, and many others.
But it might be something interesting to say that
I have also lived in different centuries.
I’ve lived in the 16th century, in the 17th century,
in the 19th century, and the 21st century.
I have watched the first Shakespeare’s play on a stage
with the people of that time.
I have read the first Charles Dickens’ novel
when it was released for the first time.
I know what happened to the people in the First World War.
You may wonder how that would be possible for me because I’m only 26 years old
and I cannot live in different centuries at the same time.
The answer would be by reading books.
By choosing the right book to read,
I have had the chance to know a lot about
different countries, their culture, people, background.
I have had the chance to live more than once.
Literature is helping me through that.
It helps me to live with every single character of this story.
It helps me to experience the same ups and downs the characters are going in.
So it seems as if I’m living more than once.
But who likes reading here?
That’s cool.
So have you ever wondered why or for what purpose you are reading a book?
Or when it comes to literature, what’s your first impression of it?
I think it’s somehow common for most of us
to just get bored, pick up a book before going to bed,
or when we are sitting in the taxi or on the bus to read something,
to spend our free time, to get entertained.
That kind of book is mostly for the sake of entertainment.
This is mostly a kind of commercial fiction novel.
There are a lot of different commercial fiction novels
all around the world.
They are mostly some colorful books with a title like the best seller of 2021,
or a multi-million copy best seller.
One of the very noticeable one
that I have read and I enjoyed it a lot
is The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
Who has read this novel? That’s cool.
As some of you might know,
This story is happening at the Louvre Museum,
and it’s about some of the most well-known paintings in the world.
I find it really tangible because there are millions of people
all around the world who have visited the Louvre Museum
to see the Mona Lisa painting.
So you feel the connection and the common ground to know the answer.
The way this story attracts your attention
to turn the pages or the way each chapter is finished,
they really keep some of your questions unanswered at the very climax of the plot.
So you read more to know the hidden secrets.
There are also a lot of other commercial fiction novels,
the ones like Dan Brown by, sorry, Inferno by Dan Brown
or The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins,
or Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. And who has read these books?
That’s really cool.
So all of these books are often followed by some sequels.
And they are really colorful. They are in the commercial fiction part.
But, you know, I remember one of my professor,
one of my professors in bachelor’s used to call these books as unputdownable.
It’s a coined word.
As the word shows, it’s really hard to put these books down until you finish them.
I think you may really get shocked but we can easily finish
a three or four-hundred-page commercial fiction novel in a few days.
Although it’s not something similar for literary fiction novels.
So literary fiction novels are really focusing on the character
rather than the plot of the story.
They are really focusing on the character’s mind
or their point of view towards this story.
So you can look at one single topic from different points of view.
So it seems as if you are living more than once.
They make you ponder.
They make you go really deep in this story
to find the lesson behind a story.
I can give you an example such as classics.
And of course, one of the really noticeable classics
that I have read so far
and I find it really connected to my own Life
is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
Who has read this one?
Still cool.
So this story is happening in America, and it’s about an American family
who are forced to leave from one part of the U.S.
and move to another part.
This is a very hard trip and they go through a lot of hardships,
but they never lose their hope.
They even lose some of their family members,
but they always protect each other and they always keep their hope.
You know, I have also immigrated to a new country
so I find it really relatable, really connected to my own life.
And I have always taken some lessons from this story.
And we have a lot of other literary fiction novels.
I have read them.
So like The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
or 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
I think some of you might have read them.
Yeah. That’s cool.
So these are stories, they really help you to look at one single topic
from another point of view.
They really help you to think more deeply instead of just get entertained.
But some people might ask what’s the point of reading a story
which was written for 300 or 400 years ago.
We are living in the 21st century.
But they are old.
I can say,
you can read kind of classics
again and again and understand it
and adapt it to your own time.
When the people in the 16th century
were reading Shakespeare’s plays for the first time,
they had a totally different idea than us,
who are reading it in the 21st century.
You can read it and adapt it to your own time.
You can have your own judgments.
Well, I was often asked by some of my students or friends
back in my homeland
that okay, so we should read some books,
but how can I distinguish between a commercial fiction novel
and a literary fiction novel?
I love reading, but I don’t know how to choose a book.
So if you ask me, you can find your favorite type of book
by understanding what your favorite type of movie is.
If you’re interested in science fiction movies,
you may also be interested in science fiction books.
And as you go forward, gradually you can find who your favorite author is,
or what kind of genre do you like the most.
So, and if you think that the story is a little bit hard to understand,
the language is a little bit old,
so instead of choosing a story which is for 17th century,
you can choose something a little bit newer,
maybe for 20th century.
I’m not saying that you should never read
commercial fiction novels.
I also sometimes read commercial fiction novels
when I have free time.
But we should also try sometimes to read literary fiction novels as well.
In fact, classical literature gives you a lot of new perspectives towards life.
It helps you to live the lives that you didn’t live,
that you didn’t have the chance to live.
Reading classical literature
is really helping you to have a new ideatowards life.
Or have a new idea towards all those classical books
lying on a library’s shelves.
Instead of just choosing something easy to read,
you can go for something classic,
challenging, yet practical for your life.
I’m not saying that literature is just about memorizing some historical events,
one after the other, or some authors’ names.
It's about how you feel by reading those poems and novels or texts.
It's about how you find your own discovery.
So the next time that you go to a bookstore,
instead of picking up the first book that you see,
with those colorful titles or covers, take your time.
Maybe you can go forward.
Maybe you can look at the classical shelf. Maybe you can choose something classics.
So let’s take our time
and think twice before choosing a book. Thank you.