WHY READ FICTION - Is reading fiction good for you or is reading fiction a waste of time?
Why read fiction? Is reading fiction good for you or is reading fiction a waste of time? Just how important is reading fiction?
You may have heard questions about the importance of fiction in our scientific world. Perhaps you personally like fiction but see it only as a hobby. Or you may sense the deeper value that comes from reading fiction but cannot fully define why you feel that way.
This video is one that will certainly give you a new perspective. And this may be the kind of video you will want to share with friends and family.
If you want to get deeper into literature while retaining the joy of reading, you may be interested in my Patreon where we go into the classic books more fully on our great literary adventure.
Patreon link patreon.com/user?u=84761803
Instagram / tristan_and_the_classics
fiction is important because real life is not enough
I used to mostly read nonfiction, after a severe brain injury I starting reading fiction. It gets me out of my head and into someone else's for awhile; breaking the repetition of my thoughts. It also has insights and other ways of seeing the world.I always read the work first before I read anything about it. I make my own interpretation then see what others think.Often I don't settle on anything until a day or two after reading the work, eventually my mind sifts it enough and a conclusion is made.I never feel like I've wasted my time.
Thank you for this! I've always felt reading fiction was important and worthwhile but I struggled to articulate why.
Hello Tristan. Excellent video. So I haven't wasted 70 years of my life reading fiction!
Thank you. So, in 70 years of reading are there any works or authors that have left a particularly lasting impression on you.
Good question, Tristan! So, here goes. Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Barchester Towers, Scarlet Pimpernel series, The Portrait of a Lady, Maugham's Short Stories, Complete Sherlock Holmes, The Way We Live Now, Casanova's Memoirs, Jude the Obscure, Great Expectations, Shakespeare's Plays, and lots more!
As a non native english speaker, I used to have a hard time consuming your contents considering the way you explain things are simple yet formal. However, as I watch more and more of your videos, I am able to become very familiar with the way you explain things which means I am getting better in understanding english. Thank you so much for the knowledge and your thoughts.
A brilliant video. This Oscar Wilde quote comes to mind: 'it is the spectator, and not life, that art truly mirrors' Fiction matters to me because it provides context to the whys, how's, where's etc. Thank you Tristan for sharing your passion, it's inspiring.
Beautiful quote. That would mean that a person who doesn't see the need for art lives in a house with no mirrors. Imagine never seeing ones true self!
Thanks for this! It brought to mind a conversation I had with a friend some time ago. She said pretty much your title - that reading fiction is a waste of time because it's just fake stories and why bother? I don't even remember what I said. I was so shocked. I can't imagine my life without fiction. I am nearing the end of my JANE EYRE reread and gaining so much more this second time around. I admire her moral strength and commitment so much and I wish I could be more like her. The same with UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. There are some horrific parts but also some beautiful parts. There are people I wish I could be more like! I don't understand people like this. It seems they are impoverishing their own souls.
I just read Jane Eyre for the first time. Amazing book!!! Hope you enjoyed your re-reading of it.
Isn’t it amazing how the arts take all those aspects of life, and allow men to express them in such a way that they can be carried, understood, and felt by all.
and bought and sold and stored in warehouses.
A brilliant video Tristan. One can also learn from fiction. Perhaps it can be easy, because is written in an easy way, give you the possibility to be part of that world. Sometimes a novel can speak to you in a way that no person does. It can help understand yourself better and realise that you are not alone in a particular situation. It happened to me. I love non fiction but to be honest is not easy to feel attached to the particular subject because of the way is written. Thanks for sharing this video. Wish you a Happy New Year.
Feel better soon, Tristan! Happy New Year! I've been watching your past videos. Great stuff there! Thank you!
Thank you, Laurel. I'll just keep taking the paracetamol 🤒
Spot on! You eloquently said and illustrated precisely what my heart and mind feel about this topic. Though the four quadrants are all necessary, we can learn some of the most critical life lessons from quality fiction and art...what it means to be kind. Compassionate. Empathetic. Honourable. Inquisitive. Creative. Imaginative. Life without it would be incomprehensible, much less rich and enjoyable. A travesty, really. Please continue to enlighten and inspire with your insight. I hope you realize the value of your splendid channel! Thank you.
Wonderfully spoken. Have a fast recovery, thank you for making this video now, your voice sounds good. . Happy 2023 with Health and Enjoyment , for you and your family!
Thank you, I'm pleased you enjoyed it. There's a lot planned for 2023 and it's exciting to get started.
Non-fiction will tell you what something is. Fiction will make you experience it, making it become part of who you are (we evolved to learn through experience).
The best ever enlightening video on why art matters❤ thank u sir
Outstanding ... thank you so much for this.
Thank you, Alex, I'm pleased you enjoyed it.
first off, I miss the blue hoodie 💙 Sorry to hear you've got Covid...rest, my friend! I had it earlier this year and it knocked the wind out of me for a week. I do enjoy nonfiction and regularly incorporate it into my reading, but fiction is my true love. It is for pure enjoyment and escape. In many cases, it has also led me to learn new things, almost as much as non-fiction would. I will take the time to look things up that are referenced in a fiction book (events, people, etc.) and get sent down rabbit holes. I say, read fiction OR nonfiction, OR both - whatever gets you to read. I think it is reading that is important to one's mind and soul and well-being. So, whatever is going to get you to read - read that :) Another great video, Tristan. Good luck with the Patreon. I cannot join yet, as I am tightening my finances first half of this year to save for something, but I hope join later in the year.
Hope that you feel better soon. It's amazing you were able to make this video while battling COVID. Sending warm and well wishes your way. Happy New Year. 🫖
Thank you so much. I feel I have come off quite easily compared to others.😀
Great video Tristan ! Happy new year and take care !
Thank you Lucy!
I really enjoyed this video. Great job
Thank you, Cath! I'm so pleased that you enjoyed it.
Prayers for your recovery!!
Thank you, Jane.
I heartily look forward to some of your non-fiction recommendations. My current resolution is to read all of Shakespeare's sonnets and plays. Just finished Hamlet. Loved it!
My my, you started with a true great. Hamlet is crazy amazing. I have hopes to revisit him again soon.
That was fascinating! Take care of yourself! Tristan. I hope you shake off that wretched Covid beast soon.
Great insights!!
Pleased you enjoyed it, Jane.
Another great video thanks!
Pleased that you enjoyed it, Gwyndon. 😀
@@tristanandtheclassics6538 I wish you a speedy recovery ❤️🩹
Excellent video!
Excellent teaching!
Thank you, Cassaundra. That's very kind of you.🙏❤️
Your channel is so awesome. You just seem like a nice person
Thank you so much, Severian! I think that you are a very nice person too!
I think about that question a lot 😁 I always loved art until I had to analyze and interpret paintings AND got a good grade for my text, even though I just made it all up in that moment. I felt like there was no real basis for the things I said. Get well soon!
Hey, Sunny! What you say is so true. The thing about art can simply be that if you love and enjoy it, then keep loving and enjoying it😀
Thank you!
You are welcome, Abongile.
Amazing!
Thanks!
This video is on of those rare aha moments and it will stick with me for a long time.. can you please make a video about books that changed or moved societies on different aspects of life
I'm pleased you enjoyed it, Razan. Your suggestion is a very good one and I will give it some thought. Thank you.
I read Uncle Tom's Cabin for the first time just a few weeks ago. I adored it! In fact, I may start it over again, because I know there's a lot I missed the first time. I'm never good with stories with a lot of characters/names. But it was so powerful and beautiful!
It’s superb!
You're way more lucid than I was with COVID, that's for sure. Feel better soon, Tristan!
I do feel that I've got away lightly compared to other people.
@@tristanandtheclassics6538 That's good! Mine was surprisingly light physically, but I had some real brain fog for the first few days. More than usual, I mean. 🙃
That was beautiful.
Thank you, Manders, that's very kind of you. I'm pleased you enjoyed it.
Its sad that more people dont realize the huge advantages of fiction. A good fiction book is imersive, entertaining, we xan actually learn from them and see another points of view...
As a qualitative researcher, life really is about the stories. Whether it is examining a fictional story or an individual's own experiences, the process of looking for themes and ideas - the what is "real" - is the same. Hope you feel better soon!
Mark Twain once said, "Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.” The older I get, and the more I "do my homework," I find that nonfictional works (especially history) tend to be more fictional than fiction. The examples are countless and infinitely disgraceful.
Patty- 10 plus years ago, my aunt introduced me to the genre of Amish fiction. It has become a passion now. I have learned more than I ever thought I would from reading that particular genre.
Patty-I have learned a new way to experience my spirituality because of that genre. I totally agree with you about why it's so important to read fiction. Thank you.
Get well soon! 🙂
Thank you. I appreciate it. 😀
Tristan, Very interesting commentary, can I ask you what your own route has been to the love of books? 🙄
Great question for him!!
@@janebaily3758 Thank you.
Hi Tristan 🙏🏻 What about non-fiction on real life story such as history ? But not classic XXX
Ars gratia artis-Art for art's sake. For me, the arts are as necessary as breathing. Great literature, music and the visual arts feed my soul and enhance the quality of my life. I taught elementary school for many, many years and always endeavored to introduce my students to various art forms. A curricula that includes the arts is as necessary as mathematics or science. Thanks for this excellent video. 📚🎭🩰🎹🎼🎨😀
I applaud you for giving your students such a blessing, Adrienne. As you say, the arts are the food of the soul. Let's keep on enjoying them.
Get well soon!
@tristanandtheclassics, What I am about to say will shock you, but here goes: I have never read a single Sherlock Holmes story 😮 Shockingly true. Tristan,that is where you come in ! Please direct me to a Complete SH book and I mean every single one of them. I love Agatha Christie and read and re-read all her books so, it is now time to haggle SH. I am planning to read a novel and between a few chapters read a SH case....so, please help me but the write complete works. Many thanks in advance.
Science Fiction with reasonable portrayals of possible futures. Daemon & Freedom by Daniel Suarez
been watching all your videos ..thought I'd comment... Actually I hae a story to tell... Mine... I am from a really faraway broken place where I had to enroll into an educational institution where there were neither teachers present nor books... I got the degree but I know nothing.... of ENglish LIterature.... I wanted to write.. I wanted to become a writer, I still do but Now I find myself without havig read any books...having wasted my 7 years in the institution...So I was hoping you could help me... where do I start? I want to cover all my degree and also began reading the books that I should have...so any suggestions?
Hi Tristan, why subtitles are not available? Thank you!
I think the problem is in this rush of being "productive". Some people think "ok, books are fine, but movies, youtube, videogames or music are the waste of time anyway" - but it's not true too. It's all literally the things we live for - it's not "waste of time" - it's just the same but in other forms. Movies isn't worse than literature, music isn't worse than movies etc. It's not just a "distraction" - some movies, games and music influenced me so much that my worldview and personality is literally consists of it. Nameless from Gothic and Gothic 2, Jack Sparrow, Lilu Dalas from 5th Element, Asterix and Obelix, etc... And how many times music literally saved my life! In darkest times - metal and rock music, electronic, funk, jazz, blues - without it my life would be just a shadow of what it is. I think it's madness when people so obsessed with practical reason to read, watch or listen. If there's no "why" it's the best. Great video! As a person who started to voluntary read fiction quite late (in my 16-20) I can't imagine life without literature anymore.
Tristan what about our spiritual life? Where does that fit? Thanks 😊
You answered my question (based on your diagram) before I listened to the whole video! Thanks Tristan!
Hello frm India. You speak like a news reporter. A typical british accent. :) btw nicely explained 🙂
To me art and fiction are absolutely pointless as from a personal perspective they bring nothing of value to my life. Facts, data, real knowledge i.e. non fiction are what light my inner fire and interest me. The characters in fiction don't exist so it doesn't matter what happens to them and as such I have no desire to learn what happens to them...because in the greater scheme of things it just doesn't matter. That said if you enjoy fiction by default it could never be described as being a waste of time.
A query: Can you think of any contemporary novels that have influenced society the way Dickens and Uncle Tom's Cabin did? Maybe Orwell? I wonder if we don't take stories as seriously as the Victorians did. Or we're all reading so many different books that movements aren't inspired. I'll keep thinking about this.
One of my friend's has an older sister who once said, that those who love fantasy don't accept reality. Now, I don't know how she feels about other genres in fiction, but she watches the News a lot and she's like Mr. Gradgrind from Hard Times. I see that as ignorance on her part and it's sad actually. My friend is also a reader and watcher of fiction particularly fantasy and it sounds as if her sister was saying my friend can't accept reality. Maybe she didn't mean it that way, and to be fair, I don't know my friend's sister all that well, except through my friend, but from what I have heard about her she has her biases and sounds a bit narrow minded in her thinking. I think you accept reality more if you read or watch fiction, because fiction can allow us to understand reality better. We can become more empathetic and learn about the real world through a made up setting or the past. I think people like my friend's sister just see genres like fantasy as silly stories with made up problems, not something full of depth that can teach you just as non-fiction can.
some would say your questions are BLASPHEMOUS!!
🤣🤣🤣
I love fiction. I'm just wondering if Einstein read fiction or ,if not, is it ok to say his life was meaningful. it seems Einstein enjoys science a lot. My guess is reading everything can be meaningful for you, if you really love it.
You make an excellent point, Khan. Einstein was very fond of the arts. He said, “arts and sciences are branches of the same tree” and “we do art when we communicate through forms whose connections are not accessible to the conscious mind yet we intuitively recognize them as something meaningful”. The error we all can make is insisting that the thing we personally find most pleasure or value in, is the most important endeavour. This is erroneous. All facets of life are important. For example, Stephen Hawking once declared that 'philosophy is dead.' Of course he likely felt that the pursuit of the sciences was the most important area of all life. The irony is that his statement is philosophical and that Science itself has its own philosophical underpinnings. Ultimately the prime thing is the acquisition of truth and wisdom. And those two noble qualities are not found in just one area alone. Finding them though is the only way to real meaning.
@@tristanandtheclassics6538 I believe Einstein was a massive fan of the The brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. I read in an introduction to TBK in the everyman librarry edition that he stated " Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss."