"A few days after I started reading [the science fiction novel 1Q84] I was standing in my Michigan backyard, talking on the phone, when the unusual brightness of the night cause me to look up at the moon -- nearly full, unobstructed by clouds - for the first time in as long as I could remember .... Afterward I called Caroline out to the backyard. If it had been a while since I'd looked at the moon, it had been even longer since we'd looked at it together. The moon is outside our realm of concern. I have to care for my kids, earn a living, be a good husband. What difference does it make if the moon is waxing or waning, full or crescent? For a few quiet moments we looked up at it together before retreating inside from the cold." (Kevin Hartnett, "Father Fiction")The story is accompanied by a sidebar discussing the ways that reading fiction has been proven to improve social skills. The human in humanities, if you will.
I had my 'looking at the moon' moment last week when I was talking with class about tragic reversal in the Oedipus Rex, and the way no human success or human endeavor lasts forever, according to the Greeks. They were listening to me good-naturedly.
But when I segued into a discussion of how the changeability of human life is a gift, because you can only truly love something if you know you might lose it (unlike the gods), I could tell it broke through their distraction a little. Their expressions became focused and thoughtful. I love those moments. Pin It
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