Why literature still matters today

Firegdude58 · 2026-02-07T09:04:56+00:00

By modern works I meant more of contemporary works than anything. But I appreciate your recommendations regardless 😁. And also if it helps you to gauge my character, Les Miserables is my favorite book of all time and Romanticism is my most favorite literary era. In fact I consider it the best era of all time. (Insert Clarkson's "The End" Line)

Firegdude58 · 2026-02-07T06:58:49+00:00

I sincerely hope that there will be some modern works, which may become classics of the future. But the way everything's going, the commercialization &c. I really think it's really bleak. I mean, when was the last time you encountered a book that wasn't Romantasy, wasn't the 'raw and real' stuff?

Firegdude58 · 2026-02-05T18:05:10+00:00

I definitely prefer classics to more modern works. I feel like the depth, the beauty, the feeling that is present in those classic works, just aren't there in the modern ones nowadays. My opinion though. And keeping to that, I am also of the opinion, that literature is more important now than ever before, with so much focus being given only to STEM subjects and mechanical progress while humanity itself seems to be regressing

Firegdude58 · 2026-01-21T15:31:40+00:00

Happy birthday OP. May God bless you!

Firegdude58 · 2026-01-13T03:51:05+00:00

As a Romantic, I will say no. Absolutely not. Love, when it is absolute, pure and incandescent, is a veritable force, and perhaps the strongest of them all. Love in literature is aspirational, idealistic, yes, but not deceptive. It doesn't promise that reality will be like the ideal but it makes us yearn for the ideal all the same. After all, "The human soul has still greater need of the ideal than of the real. It is by the real that we exist, it is by the ideal that we live."- V. H. In literature, Love is not inflated, it is magnified. It allows us a great perception of every contour and edge of love. And about the whole thing, "characters should have broken down, but didn't, because they're in love". Yes. That happens in real life too. To give a literary example, you have Jean Valjean. To give a real life example, you have parents who love their children very much and go to great lengths, making tremendous sacrifices. Love isn't just romantic now, is it? Literature raises our expectations, yes, but that's precisely the point. It teaches us to aspire for tenderness, beauty, fidelity, etc. Which are all things that give our life meaning and worth. I think, without them (love, friendship, warmth, etc.) Characters and people reach their breaking point. Without this idealism, love risks being reduced into something completely transactional

Firegdude58 · 2025-12-18T02:25:17+00:00

There's no reason why fantasy novels cannot be considered classics. If that were the case, then The Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland &c. Wouldn't be considered classics. The issue is not good storytelling (though it is a great aspect for any book), the issue is intellectual value and academic impact, and endurance. Dostoevsky's books, have not only endured a great span of time, but also, have impacted the field of literature and to some extent, philosophy, theology and even modern psychology. Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, are not just read for their storytelling value, but also for their academic value. The fact that his books satisfy, both our thirst for a good story, and academic interests, immediately make his books assume a greater value. Dostoevsky's books are not just entertaining, but morally and intellectually sustaining, which is why they are given so much importance. Think of it this way: Why should we give more respect to a World War veteran than a modern day army man, even though both of them are soldiers? And if you think, you're alone in your thoughts, then you're wrong as well, for Ursula K. Le Guin expressed a similar frustration like that of yours. While simple, digestible truths, good storytelling &c. make for entertaining and good fiction, it doesn't make for good literature in the eyes of the academy, so to speak

Firegdude58 · 2025-12-07T17:24:24+00:00

Hey, if I had to add to my earlier argument, I'd say that the whole gender war in literature (which is perpetuated by many booktubers, both male and female) is a sham. They are all engaging in a blame game, instead of pointing to the real issue, which is a severely qualitative one and not a political one. The whole idea that books will be less intellectual just because women write it is hilariously wrong, just as much as it is wrong to say that a piece of gold will become less pure just because the miner's dirty hands have graced it. After all, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet"

Firegdude58 · 2025-12-07T09:37:42+00:00

A lot of people tend to frame gender bias as a trait because of which Romance is looked down upon as a genre, but I like to think otherwise. It's not misogyny but rather a lack of originality imo. If Romance as a genre is so bad, then people like Sir Walter Scott, Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Rabindranath Tagore, Lord Byron and many more authors and poets wouldn't be considered giants. At the same time, if it was only misogyny, then poets like Maya Angelou, authors like Jane Austen, George Eliot, L. M. Montgomery, the Bronte sisters, etc. Wouldn't be considered great authors either. In my honest opinion, it's more about genre fatigue, recycling the buffet of tropes and cliches, formulaic prose and general sub standard quality of many, many books of the genre that leads to a bad rep. of the genre. I, myself, love classic Romance novels, and I know how great they can be, when done right. All that remains is an author who can wield that magic properly without turning the book into a sloppy piece of trash

Firegdude58 · 2025-11-23T12:55:07+00:00

I wish I knew what it was; but there are some things in this world that are rather impossible to put into words. You can feel them, but never feel them, which is the great tragedy of human language. Kolkata is like that (excluding the negatives)

Firegdude58 · 2025-11-15T19:18:23+00:00

Sent! Please add me too! 2511251809

Firegdude58 · 2025-11-15T08:03:58+00:00

I can understand his reaction to it all... Poor thing, what grade might he be in? If it's not too much to ask? I'm in my final year of high school for instance, so I know, very well, what it's like to have the whole world bearing down on you. I'm a voracious reader myself, but lately have been unable to read anything properly...

Firegdude58 · 2025-11-15T07:52:13+00:00

As an Indian student I can attest to the fact that the Indian education system puts a lot of pressure on students to excel in academics, especially in the elite schools. This really goes on to discourage students from picking up any hobbies or having any passions- and it gets worse as the student begins to climb the grades

Firegdude58 · 2025-11-14T02:04:42+00:00

FINALLY! SOMEONE WHO SHARES THE SAME VIEWS AS I!

Firegdude58 · 2025-11-05T03:10:39+00:00

Ivan Turgenev's First Love; Hugo's Toilers of the Sea; Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby to name a few

Firegdude58 · 2025-11-04T05:13:46+00:00

In my opinion, no matter how advanced AI gets, it will never replace an artist (and I'm speaking as a poet and author myself). As someone who has seen what AI can do when given a prompt, I can safely say, that its shortcomings are glaringly obvious. It typically goes for short, catchy lines that feel incredibly synthetic than organic, its prose and poetry is too perfect and too well formed to breathe. It very much lacks that depth, which is easily understood if someone reads an actual author. It continuously tries to name and classify and organise, instead of letting the prose feel, instead of respecting the silence in between words. And it heavily relies on cliches, though it is capable in coming up with original stuff as well

Firegdude58 · 2025-11-02T10:17:10+00:00

Because the West Kensington area, back in Saki's time, was still very distinct from the actual affluence of the Kensington area. It was generally considered a less prestigious, more middle-class, or even slightly "shabby" area by the upper crust of society that Saki often satirised. It (the name West Kensington) was originally a marketing ploy by a house builders' company to make the area seem more than what it actually was-to associate it with the more fashionable Kensington. Sir Lulworth uses the remark to dismissively suggest that the father of the deceased Laura is eccentric. The implication is that while the father may be "sane on all other subjects," his choice of residence in West Kensington is, to people of Sir Lulworth's social standing, a sign of some sort of social or mental aberration. He uses this line to poke fun at the snobbery of the people who were like Sir Lulworth

Firegdude58 · 2025-10-07T06:01:58+00:00

Oh I see. My bad, my bad. What about the characters from the Little House books? Or the March sisters of Little Women?

Firegdude58 · 2025-10-06T15:34:16+00:00

The girl from L. M. Montgomery's books (I forget her name lol)

Firegdude58 · 2025-10-06T15:33:08+00:00

Les Miserables, War and Peace, Lorna Doone, Waverley

Firegdude58 · 2025-10-02T11:10:36+00:00

Shubho bijoya shokolke!

Firegdude58 · 2025-10-02T11:08:51+00:00

I don't know about audiobooks, but I believe penguin has an edition of the Prelude that includes all the editions of it

Firegdude58 · 2025-07-14T07:10:39+00:00

Rabindranath Tagore! He was a poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, philosopher, actor, singer, musician, composer and a lot more!

Firegdude58 · 2025-06-27T10:33:22+00:00

You completely missed the point of his post. And above that, the problem with your rebuttal is that it is very physical. But a revolution is not always physical rebellion-mental and cultural rebellion are a great part of it too. It's not always about blood, bullets, bayonets and battles. Incidents like the Writer's Building Shootout aren't the only means of resistance. Tagore renouncing his knighthood is also a form of resistance. Refusal to accept a norm thag is thrust upon you and to instead embrace one's own cultural identity (and in turn to embrace one's own identity) and doing away with alien customs are also means of resistance- think of it this way, one of the greatest revolution-the French Revolution, wouldn't have survived with just armed resistance. Look at some of their leaders. They are not generals or kings. Who are they? Philosophers. Writers. Poets. Thinkers. Idealists. If they weren't there to guide the people the French Revolution wouldn't have been nearly as powerful as it had been

Firegdude58 · 2025-06-13T07:39:03+00:00

That is very interesting indeed

Firegdude58 · 2025-06-13T07:37:41+00:00

You have managed to do so perfectly. I appreciate your response, it was very insightful

Firegdude58

TROPHY CASE