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/lit/ - Literature

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9232461 No.9232461 [Reply] [Original]

Does reading literature make us better people? Or is it dependent on the nature of the reader?

>“The people who ran the concentration camps probably knew Goethe and Schiller by heart.”
>In one of the conversations with his daughter Stalin mentioned Dostoyevsky as an example of a deep psychologist. It is known that since his youth Stalin was reading Dostoevsky with great interest. While reading "The Brothers Karamazov", Stalin has made a lot highlights and notes in the margins.
>By his own admission, Hitler was not a big fan of novels, though he once ranked Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Don Quixote (he had a special affection for the edition illustrated by Gustave Doré) among the world's greatest works of literature.

How would one argue against this? Or did they just have shit taste?

>> No.9232466

funny image

>> No.9232468

>>9232461
Those are a few cases in which the answer is no. But in general I believe that literature makes anyone 'better people' -more thoughtful and selfaware and more 'moral' as a consequence.. but I have no proof

>> No.9232512
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9232512

>>9232461
>better people

>> No.9232618

Is the cop Evola?

>> No.9232636

Imagine how inefficient those gas chambers would have been if not for Goethe's guiding hand

>> No.9232706

No. People do not change. But literature brings out the excellence in people. Meaning that good, king people become even more empathetic and noble, while cunts find ever greater ways to deceive other and sow misery.

>> No.9232709
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9232709

>>9232461
>better

>> No.9233089

>>9232461
In that pic, replace Kant's face with Richard Wagner's.

Also Kant is more like the Judaic god of commandments.

>> No.9234854

>>9232461
spooky

>> No.9234867

>better people
By what metric?

>> No.9235197

>>9234867
Rather than better, let's say more empathetic. Not implying that it is necessary good.

>> No.9235206

>>9235197
Bakhtin would recommend what he considered Dostoyevski's polyphonic or heteroglossic novels as good for ethical development

>> No.9235223

>>9232461
>he had a special affection for the edition illustrated by Gustave Doré
holy shit hitler was patrish

>> No.9235230

>>9232706
>But literature brings out the excellence in people.

This. Maybe I'm just the typical /lit/ autist, but I'd much prefer my prison guards have the ability to quote Goethe, Schiller, and Rilke by heart than not. Better to be exploited by a refined soul, no matter how evil.

>> No.9235296
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9235296

It has the potential to make you a better person, but it's up to each reader on how they interpret the work and how much they take it to heart and let it influence them.

>> No.9236898

>>9234854
spooky

>> No.9237005

>>9236898
>>9234854
spooky

>> No.9237097

>>9232461
>Goethe and Schiller
Both were reactionary anyway

>> No.9237477

>>9232709
>>9235197