BY AFSHAN NABI (MBG/III)
afshan.nabi@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
“Just start, it’ll make you feel calmer,” my friend said.
We were talking about being too busy, with the unpleasant weight of insipid work hanging around our necks, to read.
Being busy is an excuse.
After all, does one not make time for the things one loves? If I cared enough about reading, I would do it. This seemed simple as one plus one is two. Since I was not reading, I did not care enough about it. So I was not being completely honest with myself when I kept saying that I wanted to read and just could not get around to doing it, because I was too “busy,” with heaven knows what.
This thought made me distinctly uncomfortable. In fact, it made me positively frantic; I have always believed that the books we read play a great role in defining us. Now all of a sudden, I was not a reader, I did not have a shape anymore, I was foggy, blurring at the edges, afraid I might be nobody as the edges of this foggy shape, which was me, began to diffuse into the atmosphere, and disappear, with all traces of my idea of me.
I decided to solve this personal crisis – was I a reader or not? – once and for all.
I marched to the library, and borrowed a book I had heard a lot about – “The Name of the Wind,” by Patrick Rothfuss.
And through this book, I found, definitively, that I was indeed a reader. Rothfuss’s novel is comforting as warm soup on a winter day, fresh as the first smell of rain, and enchanting as a world created again. It tells the story of the magician and musician Kvothe, who seems to have lost his abilities, hiding from his enemies by pretending to be an innkeeper in a small town. Kvothe tells his story – a tale of fantastic exploits and dire mistakes, loyal friends and dangerous enemies, and how he was so brilliant that he “was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in.” There is a sense of deep sadness, and great joy and mystery, in this story about stories. The magic described is enthralling, rigorous and almost scientific; artificers, the magical equivalent of engineers, create new technology using magic. The author is witty; I laughed aloud several times. Though I want to talk endlessly about this book, I must stop here to avoid spoiling it for anyone who might want to read it. Suffice it to say that I could not put it down until I finished it. And when I finally did, a sigh of relief escaped me; I could still read like every day was the last of my life. I was not such a stranger to myself as I had feared; I had not lost myself in the flurry of days and the passage of years.
If you are a follower of fantasy, I urge you to read this masterpiece. If you are not, this might be the book that converts you.
Many people believe that fantasy, by virtue of being completely “made up,” is inherently inferior to other genres that deal with reality. And as followers of this frivolous genre, fantasy readers are escapists unable to deal with issues and books that are more serious. But even if that were true, there would be nothing wrong with reading fantasy, because life is such that everyone needs an escape sometimes – be it a vacation to the ocean in summer or a good night’s sleep at the end of every day. Escapes are rejuvenating and, therefore, good for the health of the human mind. As it happens, fantasy is a type of escape that is especially free of the constraints of reality and as a consequence can serve as a very useful tool to explore universal aspects of human life – choices, relationships, morality, the meaning of work, and living well. Further, since it transcends the prejudices of this world, it helps the reader understand that all life, not just humans of another religion or race, but plants, animals and the whole of this earth are sacred, and meant to be treasured, not destroyed. Fantasy is always infused with buoyant, golden, undefeatable hope; one of the defining character traits of all fantasy protagonists is their refusal to abandon hope despite the might of the evil that is afflicting their world.
All of the above features have merit enough to attract readers to this genre.
But that is not why most adherents spend hours reading, discussing and sharing their views on the finer points of what they find the most intriguing characters and worlds created by the human mind. For most, as for me, reading fantasy is a matter of the heart, just as sitting in warm sunshine sipping tea is a matter of the heart. Sure, the sun helps your skin produce vitamin D, but that is not why sitting in the sun is a joy. There is some part of the human soul that delights in beauty and warmth. And fantasy, like this world under the sun, has plenty of both.
If you are still not convinced, science provides an argument too: reading fantasy increases the activity of the brain – especially the part related to emotion processing – more than does reading other forms of literature. One study found that reading “Harry Potter” altered the attitudes of young Italian kids toward groups that they were prejudiced against, for example immigrants. Let us take a moment to analyze this. It is common knowledge that one way to become more accepting of people from different cultures is to have interactions with them – talking, sharing experiences and so on. Reading “Harry Potter” (which, by the way, is not the most highly regarded work in the fantasy genre) has that same effect. How amazing is that?
In the end, a giant of science has come to my rescue in making this argument. Here is something Albert Einstein said: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
So, if you, like me, are feeling as if you can get no work done, and should not start relaxing until you do get some done, but after a while are still bogged down and have not really been productive, take a break and read fantasy! If you are in a good place, and facing no major crises, take a chance and read fantasy! If not for your heart, then for your mind: read fantasy!
P.S. I feel like all these words are disappearing into the void. Please let me know what you think of my columns!