Introduction 13

Introduction - Why study Literature

read and one reason may be that they have so much in their minds that it is not easy to see it quickly. Of course a book may be badly written. Perhaps the writer has used language more complicated than is really needed - and he has failed to describe his pictures well.
Non-fiction
The opposite of fiction is non-fiction. Fiction is the result of the imagination of the writer. The writer makes it up. In non-fiction the writer is trying to describe the world. Books of this type cover every type of study from mathematics to history. Students need to learn how to make use of non-fiction books as well as how to read fiction. Non-fiction includes study methods of all other school or academic subjects. This is dealt with in Section 6.
Reading
When someone is reading a book there are three things involved:
the writer and what he has imagined
the contents of the book
the reader and what he brings to the book

It is time to think about the reader.
Boredom
Someone might say: I didn't like that book. It was very boring. Is that a useful thing to say about a book? What really happened is that the book bored that particular reader. That is: that particular reader didn't find the book interesting. It describes the psychological state of the reader. Does this mean every reader will be bored by the book? Not necessarily. (Some books do seem to bore everyone who reads them - or tries to read them. Perhaps they are badly written, or written for a not very useful purpose, such as to get promotion in a university). However we must remember that boredom is a feeling produced in a person. It is not in the book itself. Boredom is a product of the person and the book and means that the person and the book are not suited to one another.
Another person reading the same book may find it quite interesting. In that case the book has found the right reader. It is a pity that so often in school everyone in a class is made to read the same book at the same time. Outside school everyone reads different books and if someone is bored he just stops reading that book until the time comes, if it ever does come, when he finds it interesting.

When a person reads a book he brings to it all the things he has seen, done and thought before, especially the thoughts he has had about other books. That is why it is important to read lots of books as well as the set books.
It often happens that you will find a book which you can't read at a certain age. But wait a few years and try it again. It may have become interesting for you when you have grown older. But also everyone finds that some books which were interesting when young become boring in later life.
Often a book is boring because you don't yet know enough to find it interesting. You may need the right experiences first before you are ready to understand it. Will someone who has not been in love understand fully a book about love? That is why it is possible to read a book twice and find something different in it the second time. It is not the book which has changed but the reader who has been changed by the experiences of his life. Perhaps the search of the literature student is to look for books like that. Most books, especially novels, are not like that. Many novels are not worth reading more than once, and may seem even less interesting when you read them a second time. This may be because the author was not using much imagination - perhaps because he wanted to sell a lot of books to people with poor imaginations. Some writers' books are only of interest to those who have not read many books. Those who have read more, or have had more life experiences, may find them impossible to read.
As you, the reader, come to read more books you will learn to discriminate between these two kinds of book.
Something to do
If you want to understand something which someone else has made, you should try to make one yourself. Perhaps you think it is too complicated to write a novel. One way to help you understand how a writer works is to try to write one yourself. Try to write a story. A story can be short. It does not have to be of novel length. In the past story writing was a regular part of the English writing course. If before you begin to study literature you try writing stories and pass them round your fellow students you will have a better understanding of what an author does when he writes a novel or a play.
How to start writing stories
There are many ways:
A. Think of some imaginary people
Give them names
Imagine things happening to them

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