Arabian Nights and Days - Naguib Mahfouz

When I first found out we were going to be reading Arabian Nights and Days I was expecting something along the lines of Disney’s Aladdin. I grew up watching it and this is where most of my experience with Arabian themed tales comes from. However I found the themes of Arabian Nights and Days to be far from the innocent tales I had expected.

What surprised me about this book, apart from the themes, was how much it jumped around. It was a collection of smaller stories but ones that did not fit together as smoothly as I would have expected. It was also weird to read a book written by someone with Muslim views. They came through throughout the book and I wasn’t sure how to interpret it all, as I have a very limited knowledge of their religion.

The book also made me curious about the misconceptions I had about their culture. From what I grew up with, genies were always good and granted people wishes. What limited knowledge I had came from Aladdin and I Dream of Genie, and I had assumed that this view was the only way genies were thought of. To me the Genie’s seemed like Angels and Demons, the “believing genies” seemed like how our culture views angels and the evil genies seemed like demons. The first Genie we encounter in the book is the non-believing, evil Genie. Which manipulates humans to do their bidding, then he deceives the human again telling him I had nothing to do with it, you performed the action of your own free will, making him feel fully responsible.

I have never read A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, but after reading this book I am encouraged to do so, perhaps next summer when I may have a lighter work load.  It sounds like a very interesting read from what I’ve discussed with class mates.

I’m beginning to get a feeling that we are only going to read books with slightly confusing plot lines. I like books that follow one story from one point of view. But so far the books we’ve looked into have done a lot of jumping around, but hopefully the other books can require a little less jumping around.

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin

When I began to read Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin, my original notion was that this was going to be an awful book. I’ve never read a book written in second person before and found it very difficult to get into. However, after pushing through a couple pages I got used to seeing "you" and carried on with the rest of the book. Another confusing thing about reading the book was how it would jump around in time without giving an indication that we were changing.  I’ve read plenty of books that changed times but it was usually indicated by a couple of *** between chapters or at least a sentence like “Then I thought back on an experience I had as a child…” Please look after mom often made no clear indication it was about to change times and I often caught myself re-reading paragraphs to make sense of it.

This is a book full of self-evaluation and regret. When the family originally discovers their mothers disappearance they all try to blame each other for the loss, but as the story progresses they realize that they never really knew their mother. “Mom was just, Mom” They didn’t see her as someone who had once been a child, who could have feelings and desires outside her family. And even after years of reading and writing letters for their mother, they had never thought that she might be illiterate.

As they try to find their mother physically the characters begin to seek her emotionally. Knowing they never truly knew her they begin to regret how they had treated their mother and think of all the things they should have done differently, and in the final chapter, the mother is running through all the things she should have done differently.

So the moral of the story, take care of your family; if you don’t take the time to find who they are now, you've already lost them. In the words of Garth Brooks “If tomorrow never comes, will she know how much I love her.”

What are the concerns of literature, as we understand those concerns today?

The concerns of literature can vary greatly depending on genre, personal opinions of the authors, and other such variables. Good literature may be concerned with entertainment, in the case of fictional or nonfictional works, learning purposes, such as text books and research materials, or simply to know and understand current events.

For the purposes of an author, the concerns of literature could be many things. A fictional writer may be interested in entertaining others, making money, or simply find writing to be a good way to spend their free time and de-stress. A non-fiction writer could be concerned with educating others, informing people of current events, and also convincing others of their own viewpoint. Journalists, who are in a category of their own, are obviously focused on letting others know what is happening around them. They work hard to get the story before their peers do.

Overall, I believe that literature’s purpose is to teach. Even the worst written fiction books have a story, a lesson that can be applied to the reader’s life. It’s been proven that books have an effect on the people reading it. Perhaps this is because the reader cannot depend on outside visuals. He is contained to words on a page; his imagination must fill in the blanks.  It’s been my experience in the past that when most people think of the word “literature,” what comes to mind is something along the lines of a novel. Most wouldn't consider a foreign textbook to be literature, but by its very definition, literature is all written work. Literature, from the latin, litterae, is the art of written work. Literature literally means “made from letters.” In fact, based on the fact that I believe literature’s purpose is teaching, textbooks (and other books used for learning purposes) could theoretically be argued to be the highest form of literature. Granted, they may be boring sometimes, but information is taken from them and learning is accomplished.

When I personally think about literature, I remember the entertainment I found growing up, lost in a novel. My first passion for literature arose when I discovered the Redwall books when I was young. Soon after finishing the last Redwall book that my library carried, I moved on to Harry Potter, and then Eragon. And this is the genre of literature I currently concern myself with, fictional fantasy books.

Second to fictional entertainment, the majority of my reading has been spent in educating myself in many different fields, whether that be through high school, college, work, or even random interests I find. During the school year, this is the type of literature I find myself in most often. With 18 hours a week in school, 30 at work, and the rest spent doing homework, sleeping, and eating, I don’t have much time left for leisure reading other than personal devotionals. However, I do hope that once I graduate from college that I will once again be able to return to my habit of reading for entertainment purposes rather than out of necessity. Until then, I will content myself with the Bible, which, as said in II Timothy 3:16 is used for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” If Paul defines here that the most common piece of literature, the Bible, is for these purposes, I believe it then confirms my definition of the purpose of literature.

Simple Clutter: Pied Piper's Call

http://jp-worldlit.blogspot.com/