Posted by Sigmund on December 14, 1999, at 17:32:45
In reply to Morose, posted by allison on December 14, 1999, at 13:04:43
I changed my name - just like that! - to remove one issue.
Your second question is a stumper. If I cannot think my way out of depression, how can I suggest that you can think (read) your way into depression?
I don't know; maybe that's just the way things are. Depressing fiction is depressing and uplifting fiction is . . . well, let's face it, it's depressing too. Try this experiment: when you are feeling up, read Phillip Larkin's "Aubade." Now how do you feel? When you are feeling down, go the the newspaper and read Family Circus. Feel any better?
I no longer believe, if I ever did, that contemplation of horror is edifying. I know this might sound like an advertisement for illiteracy, but I have found that I can paint myself into a psychological corner by pursuing the wrong kind of reading, and I have learned not to do that. Some terribly important questions simply do not have answers and are best ignored. When I am depressed, I think about death all day and dream about death all night, and I am drawn to books about death. With my current ad's, I am not so hung up on death and I am not attracted to deathy books. Maybe reading morbid literature is a symptom of depression rather than a cause of depression.
It is interesting to think that Shakespeare wrote Lear, MacBeth, and (think) Antony & Cleopatra in the space of 15 months, and blasted through that period of his life to go on to write the Tempest. His courage and wisdom are astounding.
Best regards,
Sigmund (fka Morose)
poster:Sigmund
thread:16382
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991212/msgs/16916.html