ever regret studying literature I think
people who study literature feel too
much do you ever get tired of feeling
too much I don’t necessarily think that
everybody who studies literature
experiences the world in exactly the
same manner or reacts to the things in
exactly the same way but my student
definitely had a point I have always
loved books I love literature and I tend
to read the world as though it were a
narrative I loved people’s stories I
analyzed sometimes I overanalyze
sometimes i overthink do I regret
studying literature absolutely not
actually I think the literary path was
definitely for me I’m actually becoming
increasingly convinced in the importance
of literature as a tool for empathy now
for the purpose of this particular
presentation it’s really important to
define empathy first how many of you
here are students any students all right
so you know when a friend goes to an
exam maybe you are the friend too and
you study really hard and you do
everything the professor tells you to do
and then you walk into the exam and you
do it and you walk out you feel cool you
did kind of well and then you get the
grade and it’s like a scene out of a
scary movie this was not me I did not
write this the grades really bad now if
your friend tells you they experienced
this you might react in several
different ways if you have sympathy for
your friend you’re like oh I’m really
sorry if you have a piece of chocolate
life will be good but if you have
empathy for your friend you will feel
what they feel you will be able to put
yourself in their shoes according to the
oxford dictionaries online empathy is
the ability to share and understand the
feelings of others it’s a step further
from sympathy so why do we need empathy
or sympathy and why is it significant
and what in the world does literature
have to do with empathy
not any kind of literature we’re talking
about here so don’t run to the first
bookshop and just pick up any book it’s
literary fiction that’s very important
literary fiction let’s think of nojima
who’s Anton Chekhov Gabrielle Garcia
Marquez
those authors who have transformed the
world and changed the way we perceive it
that book that you read that is complex
that is about human nature that’s
literary fiction and literary studies
have shown and actually researchers have
shown that literature is capable of
increasing one’s capacity for empathy
one’s capacity of understanding others
actually there’s an article in the
Scientific American written by Julien
shiet who actually says that research
was conducted by David Kidd to
psychologists to researchers sorry David
Kidd and Emmanuel castaño what they did
was they did a project that involved
social children and they gave them
literary fiction they gave them popular
fiction and they gave them nonfiction
and they found that the children who
read literary fiction you know
literature like mahfooz Gabriel Garcia
Marquez etc actually had a higher
capacity of understanding others now
since this is a talk about literature
let me tell you a story and before you
judge the woman in that story let me
tell you the full story and then think
what you feel about her I’m going to
tell you a story that was written in
1894 by an author called Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin was an American author and
when in 1894 she published this short
story it was highly controversial so
here’s how this story goes the story is
called the story of an hour and it
literally takes place over the span of
one hour it starts off with the author
the narrator telling us that mrs.
Maillard has a heart problem she has
heart trouble mrs. Maillard sister needs
to tell mrs. Maillard that she’s just
found out that mrs. Maillard husband has
died in a railroad crash now of course
that kind of news is very difficult to
give to anybody
alone a woman who is afflicted with
heart trouble
so Josephine has to do it so she tells
her
now mrs. Maillard react by basically
saying sorry I react by being really
upset visibly upset she’s hysterical you
don’t need to worry about this by the
way you can just focus on me right she’s
she reacts by being visibly hysterical
and it’s dramatic it’s intense and then
she goes into her room and this is the
interesting part she sits on her chair
and she suddenly feels free yes a woman
has just lost her husband and she
suddenly feels free she feels and I
quote the text free body and soul the
birds are chirping life is lighter and
it’s a lot better now when I was 18
years old and I read that story for the
first time I was like what is wrong with
that woman she just lost her husband and
there she is feeling free let me tell
you the rest of the story because it
gets interesting
so mrs. Maillard leaves her room feeling
like victorious and free and walks down
stairs and guess who’s at the door
turning the key her husband did not die
mrs. Maillard looks at her husband and
she collapses and she dies of quote a
joy that kills yes that’s the story now
what makes this literary fiction and why
do we need to read that fiction we often
tend to cry to apply criteria or
dichotomies to things a person is either
good or bad they’re happy or they’re
unhappy they’re strong or they’re weak
so what is mrs. Maillard is she a bad
person because she reacted that way to
her husband well let’s take a step back
1894 in the United States women did not
have the freedoms or rights they have
now a woman was and in the story she’s
referred to as mrs. Maillard
she was always her husband’s wife there
was no identity that she could have that
was separate from her husband so her
reaction really was her longing to have
a life of her own a life of her as an
individual now literature sometimes will
exaggerate things I don’t necessarily
think that she wanted anything bad to
happen to her husband or that she’s an
evil
but she simply experienced something
that was very foreign at the time now if
a story like this is not enough for you
or the love of literature is not enough
for you to actually go and pick up the
right kind of book soon let me tell you
this if you’re a student you do Google
search on anything that relates to
finding the right job finding an
internship
whether it’s forbes.com or fortune or
Bloomberg you’ll always find a pattern
employees are looking for people who can
communicate who can interact with others
and they’re looking for people who are
good basically communicating with other
people a key to all of this is empathy
empathy allows us to better understand
others and to go beyond ourselves the
path to empathy is a wonderful one it
goes right through the heart of
literature it takes courage for us to
change the way we do things and so and
actually I think literature is kind of a
fun way to change the way we do things
now if you’re thinking what if I pick up
a sad story and it makes me sad I’ll
tell you this life is all about a
spectrum of emotions we can’t have
experience most of the time without
emotion and we can’t have emotion
without experience so pick up that book
that makes you sad pick up that book
that makes you happy
read that text that confuses you because
at the end of the day you’re going
beyond yourself and you’re connecting
with someone else essentially you’re
transcending yourself and I truly
believe that if you embark on that
journey you will become much more than
who you were when it started thank you
[Applause] you