Non-Religious Literary Works Part 2

[naomi24]

The original question ….. has any non-religious literary work had a positive influence on your life?

The follow up question …. if so, in what way?

[birdie1971]

George Orwell's, "Nineteen Eighty-Four" certainly opened my eyes wider than they already were. I only read it a few years ago and even though I was aware of the basic story and premise beforehand (the phrase 'Big Brother' and what that terrifying idea embodies is now ubiquitous), it didn't really prepare me for the literary hammer-blow that is the book itself. To describe it as profound, insightful and relevant is no exaggeration. Almost as frightening as the dystopian future it describes is the explanation of 'Newspeak' which is included as an appendix. The idea of manipulating language to such a degree that it changes the very nature of thought is probably more relevant today than it's ever been:
http://goo.gl/rrUn

I wouldn't say that the book changed my life but I would say that it brought certain contemporary issues into sharper focus. In that regard, I would say that it has had a very positive influence on my life. If I ever read a more cogent description of how to manipulate people, I will be astonished.

[naomi24]

I remember you saying you were reading that, Birdie, and I agree entirely. It's extraordinarily insightful - a chilling and disturbing vision alarmingly pertinent to today’s world. A work of great genius that once read can never be forgotten - and repeated readings don’t diminish its impact.

[Tilly2]

I did answer on the previous thread and said n how the particular book helped me.

Can I have a poem?

The Peace Of Wild Things.

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
-------------------------------------------------

I read this when I am troubled and find it gives me comfort.

[grasscarp]

Shouldn't this be in Arts & Literature as asking for comment on non religious books?

[Tilly2]

It could be classed as spirituality, grassy.

[grasscarp]

I see. I just thought it may get a wider audience in literature.

[naomi24]

Tilly, of course you may. That's lovely.

Grasscarp, no. It relates to the link I posted on the first thread.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/william-shakespeare/10701368/Trevor-Nunn-Shakespeare-is-100-times-more-relevant-than-the-Bible.html

I just omitted to ask people in what ways the non-religious books they'd read had influenced their lives - hence part 2.

[Prudie]

I think you mean in a spiritual way so probably not but when I was made to read Far from the Madding Crowd at school it was the first book that totally consumed me, I couldn't put it down and dreamed for weeks of being Bathsheba Everdene. It gave me a life-long love of Hardy and a desperate desire to be in Dorset (where I've now lived for 25 years). I've always thought I must have connections with the county from a previous life.

[grasscarp]

My whole life was shaped by 2 magazines. One - Girl Abou Town - said first girls to phone up would get a free flying lesson. Went loved it. Worked in aviation ever since. Other was Lord Reith writing in the Listener - "I realised to late that life was for living". I promptly changed my behaviour and started really living! Not books that changed me but written word none the less.

[naomi24]

//I think you mean in a spiritual way…//

Not only that – since it has often been said that good moral values can only be acquired through religion, I’m also wondering if anyone feels that a specific piece of non-religious literature has beneficially influenced their morals or principles. For example, one of the books that influenced me was Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’. I admired Jane’s principles, her resolve, her honesty, her refusal to succumb to sycophancy or to be anything other than true to herself, ‘Jane’ endorsed what my parents taught me – and I thank her for it.

[beso]

grasscarp. You really must read Richard Bach's Illusions. The context is all about flying. I promise you won't be able to put it down.

[grasscarp]

I see it has great reviews on Amazon so have ordered it Beso. Thank you for recommendation.

[birdie1971]

naomi24 - "... I agree entirely. It's extraordinarily insightful - a chilling and disturbing vision alarmingly pertinent to today’s world..."

Indeed. If I were "King Of The World", I would make "1984" compulsory reading for all teenagers at secondary school. Since I'm not, it isn't. As a direct consequence of me not being King and taking into account the temporal invalidity of the very argument I am currently using, I had to read "Pride And Prejudice" at the age of fifteen. Torture.

[naomi24]

Ha ha! I can't say reading Pride & Prejudice taught me anything - but I love the book.

In your capacity as imaginary King of the World, would you consider adding Orwell's 'Animal Farm' to your list of compulsory reading for teenagers?

[beso]

I was not impressed by 1984 at all. I tried it in the mid seventies. I would have been about 16. Stopped reading it. Animal Farm was pretty ordinary too.

Personally I think Orwell is highly overrated as an author.

[naomi24]

beso, now you're grown up, have you never considered trying them again?

I was rather hoping for more discussion on this question. I find it difficult to believe that so many are morally inspired by religious literature and so few by all the wonderful non-religious literature out there.

[mibn2cweus]

I've just read a couple of these -

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tales_of_Mother_Goose#vii

I don't think I will ever be quite the same again. :o)

[Kromovaracun]

I actually find 'Brave New World' a lot more incisive and readable than '1984', which I think is somewhat overrated.

Other than that, I'd nominate 'Alice in Wonderland'/'Through the Looking Glass.' It probably doesn't come across on AB very much (I tend to be super-serious on AB because humour doesn't translate well), but in real life I make an effort to see the ridiculous side of everything I can.

Learning to realise how absurd most people are got me out of a particularly po-faced and humourless phase in my teens and has dramatically affected the people I choose to socialise with. Reading the 'Alice' books were at least partly responsible for that - and so was 'Catch-22'.

As Lazygun mentioned in the other thread, I've also been a long-time reader of science fiction. Probably the book I most obsessed about when I was younger was Frank Herbert's 'Dune', which isn't a particularly uplifting read, but I think it might have introduced me to the idea of transcendence. Whenever I think about that book, my mind always ends up trying to imagine being something other than human in a way that I've not found in other books. The first book alone has an incredibly rich setting which puts snore-fests like 'Lord of the Rings' to shame.

Herman Hesse's 'Steppenwolf' had a significant effect on me, too. Though I only read it a couple of years ago and I can't really explain what that effect is.

[Kromovaracun]

And 'Animal Farm' is rubbish, imho. If you like Orwell, read his journalism. It's much better than his fiction.

[Kromovaracun]

(sorry, I'll stop posting after this.)

Is this thread just about literature or any non-religious work of culture? 'cause I honestly think there's a huge number of graphic novels, comics, and TV shows etc. I would mention that offer serious moral and philosophical discussion in a more funny and contemporary way than religious texts do - especially for teenagers.