Purpose of reading
- Home
- Board: /lit/ - Literature
- Reading: Purpose of reading
How is literature useful, and what payoff, if any, is there in reading?
I recently stumbled upon a research group whose goal it is to identify how literature is useful, and what readers actually get out of reading. Even reading popular things such as A Song of Ice And Fire; what is the purpose and the ultimate payoff? Would people really trudge through thousands of pages about dragons and swords if there wasn't some kind of payoff slightly greater than "I was entertained"?
what?
It's a brain exercise
>>8234953
>being this utilitarian
degrading the time spent enjoying yourself to "I was entertained" is weak.
if anything, you're degrading yourself moreso than the activity you're engaged in.
>>8234968
It's not that being entertained is not in itself a fine goal, but it doesn't seem clear why people love reading fiction rather than nonfiction.
>>8234953
Useful to what?
Put your ideological cards on the table m8
>>8234982
>why people love reading fiction rather than nonfiction
there is no distinction for most purposes. fiction is also constructed to be engaging in a way reality often resists.
>>8234953
What other pay-off do you want? Fleeting moments of enjoyment are as good as it gets in this world, friend.