What is literature good for ?

[duszek]

Good literature gives you a chance to immerse yourself mentally in a universe very much unlike the one you are used to.

For example the novel "John´s Wife" explores and explains artistically the workings of a small American town.

Each page is so full of substance that I read one page or one paragraph, need to make a break, think about it, and then read again, and sometimes a third time, before I slowly move on.

If I went to America to visit, like an exchange student or for a vacation, I would never learn as much about such a town as when I read Mr Coover´s novel.

I feel better equipped mentally to approach Americans on this forum, for example, because of insights given to me by Mr Coover.

[The Voice of Time]

Play and Diversity. Those are the keys.

By play I mean that literature allow us to do like children do when they play: they try out the world, and in the case of literature, we try out ideas and concepts (as well as Thought Experimentation).

By diversity I mean that other people's creativity we gain perspective and are able to see things from many angles, which is very useful for coming up with solutions to problems, especially then problems that require thinking outside the box.

[Skip]

That's certainly one very good application of literature.
Another is to explore the feelings, thoughts and perceptions of other people, so that we can better understand our friends, lovers, rulers and enemies.
Yet another is to explore ideas: What if? And what then?

And then there is the sheer aesthetic pleasure of language used well.

[duszek]

Yes, Mr Skip, I see it that way too.

In the novel I mentioned there is a woman, Pauline, who all of a sudden starts to put on weight like by magic. Something goes wrong with her body. Her husband, an overweight photographer, has to go to a mall to buy clothes large enough. And they last a day or too and become too small. He is fascinated "by what is happening to his wife´s body". Well put.

Something must have gone wrong with her metabolism. It is not simply a matter of eating too much. It is an adventure that is scarry.

We know so little about the workings of our bodies, really. We watch and learn.

[Mark Question]

is Bible, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, The Sorrows of Young Werther or Capital, Volume I-IV literature?

[Advocate]

Hooh!

Absolutely nothing! (sayitagain now.)

Books, Hooh!

What are they good for?!