Changing and Challenging People's Perspectives

Literature is a beautiful way of expressing ideas, emotions, themes, messages, and stories in a way that can be universally understood and is relatable. It allows the reader to become connected with a different world and gain a different perspective. Reading a piece of literature should provoke thoughts, imagination, questions, concerns, and many emotions for a reader. Literature can show us what life was like at a certain time or place, without just giving us facts, and can help us readers note the similarities and differences in our society and character’s society. Calvino is right in defining and describing literature in so many different ways because it is complex, and there is an abundance of literature.

Ultimately, literature exists so that people can see different perspectives on human nature, society, and the unknown worlds around us. It is there to help us question our own beliefs and challenge what we previously thought was true. While literature can be thought provoking, it can also serve as enjoyment in helping one cope with the stresses of every day life, serving as an outlet and escape that allows the person to think about different things.

Response to Calvino’s Why Read the Classics?

Calvino is right in describing many aspects of literature. He frequently notes how one piece of literature can be interpreted in many different ways. I agree with his suggestion that “we can never recommend enough a first-hand reading of the text itself, avoiding as far as possible secondary bibliography, commentaries, and other interpretations” (Calvino 5). It makes me think of works of literature that are made into movies. Many people choose to see a movie and then judge the book from what the movie was like, which is a terrible thing to do. For example, I watched the movie of Pride and Prejudice before reading the book and went into the book much more narrow-minded and with formulated opinions of each character. From the book, I could see completely different sides of the characters and relate much better to some of them. While people have produced films of classics such as Romeo and Juliet, it does no justice to the beautiful way in which Shakespeare writes and it cannot be compared to the plays that he wrote. Literature and film are completely different and it is much harder to interpret films in multiple different ways since you are just watching the story take place.

In addition Calvino greatly discusses the importance of rereading a classic so that one can gain more insight and discover new things about the book that he or she didn’t pick up on before. I agree with this, but I find that when people reread certain things over and over again, they start to analyze the work more than they look at the big ideas and simple messages being conveyed. Literature is a piece of work that authors spend countless hours working on, and every detail is important. If one spends the time to truly appreciate and understand the literature, it can become a classic that will be valued for many years to come.