Escape or
Haven?
by Dr. Andy Rose
The Leaden
Echo
(Poem: “The Leaden
Echo and the Golden Echo,” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1918)
Many of us seek ways to find a respite from the stress of
our daily lives. We awaken to an alarm clock and prepare for the day’s demands.
How many of us awaken and thank God for the jobs we have? For the joy they
bring us?
Henry David Thoreau declared: “Our life is frittered away by
detail … Simplify, simplify.” Most of us separate work and play, making the
best of our jobs but waiting eagerly for the weekends, holidays, and vacations.
How many people are entranced by the lives of celebrities?
Reality shows? Why?
Seeking relief from the pressures of contemporary life, we
escape into a variety of entertainments. But do commercial television and the
popular film industry provide deeply satisfying experiences?
To escape in entertainment is ultimately unsatisfying if we
return to our ordinary lives without renewed spirit, insight, or inspiration.
The Golden
Echo
Literature can provide a profound haven from daily
stresses. Well-crafted fiction can imbue characters with vibrant and complex
emotions. Lyrical language can enrich a reader’s appreciation of human thought.
Plots that twist and turn, “upping the ante”, can captivate
the reader. This experience can nurture the soul.
There is something exquisitely special about cuddling up
with a good book. The magic of written words is that they work in harmony with
a reader’s imagination. Television and films portray increasingly graphic
action. Books leave visualization to the reader’s imagination, fostering a more
interactive relationship. Too many television shows and movies involve
superficial relationships, clichés and contrived situations. Little is learned
about the meaning of life.
C.S. Lewis maintained
that, “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches
the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this
respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.”
Literature can provide a genuine experience leaving the
reader more in touch with his/her feelings. Emerging from an engrossing read,
one feels more alive. Feel the waves, the mist, and the excitement of
confronting Moby Dick!
The late British critic, Cyril Connolly, argued, “While
thought exists, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but
into living.”
In the end, television and popular films are an escape and
entertainment while literature creates a haven for your mind and emotions.
*************************
Author Andy Rose retired after 42 years in
public education. His debut novel portrays teachers as heroes. Imagine four
schoolteachers, not James Bond, in a spicy thriller.
A Writers’ Digest contest judge raved about the book, Lily’s Payback:
“I loved this line from Lily’s
Payback’s back cover copy ‘Can the
teachers write a lesson plan to overcome a ruthless killer?’
That one line nails the primary
strength of author Andy Rose’s hardboiled mystery, which has a most unusual
heroine: a middle school teacher. This is a great idea, a very fresh approach,
and one the author makes terrific use of to tell a quick, exciting, plot-twisty
tale of revenge and international intrigue.
The ideas flow well and though
there are elements of the story that might seem implausible on first blush, it
all wraps together in a way that makes it work. Finally, the long-suffering
teachers get their payback.”
Here is a link to the book’s
trailer: http://www.drandyrose.com/Lilys-Payback.html
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