this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
19 points (100.0% liked)

Literature

5416 readers
7 users here now

Pretty straightforward: books and literature of all stripes can be discussed here.

If you're interested in posting your own writing, formal or informal, check out the Writing community!

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
Kamirose@beehaw.org
remington@beehaw.org
19
Is there a tendency to regard books which make us feel bad as "better" than ones which don't? (beehaw.org)
submitted 1 year ago by emma@beehaw.org to c/literature@beehaw.org
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm dragging myself through an "award-winning" "best-selling" "recommended" book I got from the library and wishing I hadn't. (Yes I know those phrases mean little and I can stop, though I'm nearing the end after hoping it would stop being so hopeless. Yes I can be naively optimistic ;) .) The characters and story are all stereotypes and clichés. It's not realistic or slice of life.
The Korean drama I'm watching is top rated on MyDramaList and is well done but it also tells a sad story every episode. I'm halfway through and I don't think it's that much better than some lower rated ones with more moments of happiness.
Anyway, this has me thinking about whether there's a general trend to regard books - stories of any kind really, including real life ones - as "better" if they upset us.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] emma@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Maybe it's how far along I am in life, but I certainly have plenty of pain and sadness for comparison purposes already.
I don't really do schadenfreude, but clearly other people do, so I suppose maybe that's part of it? Bit scary if it is, if seeing other people in pain is a positive experience for many.
Either way, this is different to the idea of "better". Yes, books about difficult things are important. They're part of how we learn about ourselves and each other. I think we've gone too far in that direction and we really need more emphasis on models of positive emotions and interactions.

[–] influence1123@psychedelia.ink 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah I agree. I've often thought it would be cool to see a really good utopian novel rather than the usual dystopian.