I know what you're thinking. Reading classic literature is boring. It's really, really boring. To the average college student—whose day probably begins with a hearty breakfast of ramen noodles and lukewarm instant coffee, and ends, 20 hours later, with an unconditional surrender to a state of exhaustion so total it seems to be approaching delirium—the mere suggestion of setting aside twenty or thirty minutes a day to read a book like Ulysses or Infinite Jest seems almost laughable. This, along with the seemingly endless array of distractions that the digital age has to offer, makes it more difficult than ever to judge anyone who subscribes to the often heard excuse of “I just don't have the time to read."
But I would ask you to bracket just for a moment any preformed opinions you may have on the act of reading literature and consider the notion that maybe people only find literature so boring because they misunderstand what it is for. In the era of Twitter and Candy Crush, it is easy to forget that certain activities can be worthwhile and pleasurable without necessarily being entertaining. Long drives in the country, stargazing, helping someone in need, watching the sunrise, and, I argue, reading a good novel are all examples of this. In the case of reading long, difficult, and sometimes very dull works of fiction, that very activity also happens to be a means of self-betterment, and one that benefits no one more than the college undergrad. It does so in the following ways:
1. It cures you of loneliness.
A much better writer than I once said, “The first thing reading teaches is how to be alone." Take for instance, your first semester of freshman year. Do you remember all the lame dorm socials? What about all the forced perfunctory small talk you had with those other nervous just-arrived freshmen in the dining halls? Recall now all the moments in between. You remember, all those ones dominated by that anxious, half-desperate feeling brought on by the prospect of impending social isolation which we call "loneliness." If you were fortunate enough to be initiated into a fraternity or sorority, or managed to find yourself a satisfying enough circle of friends, you may have succeeded in escaping that feeling, but, at some point, the feeling will come roaring back.
Loneliness is something all of us must deal with sooner or later. Loud parties, video games, hookups, drugs -- these are just some of the many ways collegians attempt to escape loneliness. Good fiction, on the other hand, does not pretend. It allows you to face it head on. It doesn't try to convince you that life should be easy and fun all the time. By reading a difficult, long, sometimes boring, but also incredibly rewarding book, we learn to accept and love life for what it really is: difficult, long, boring, but incredibly rewarding.
2. It builds empathy and makes you a better human being.
Compared to any other medium, literature is the world's greatest simulator. Just from reading letters on a page, you can learn what it's like to be a child in depression-era Mississippi, or a Danish Prince seeking vengeance for his father's murder, or the son of a hedonistic nobleman in 19th century Russia. By immersing the reader in a strange place and time, literature forces the reader to alter his or her perception in order to better understand the fictive environment he or she now inhabits. After setting the book down, the mind readjusts to reality. When practiced continuously and with books, which vividly depict a time and place that is most unlike our own (i.e., the so-called “classics"), this re-adjusting works out our minds and makes us kinder, better in-tune to our respective environments, and greater insight into the thoughts and feelings of others.
3. It prepares you for life after college.
As we all know, college is a four year long hailstorm of exams, group meetings, night shifts, prolonged sessions of binge drinking, and breakups (not necessarily in that order). Needless to say, the college life is indeed a busy one. In that regard (according to my friends who have already graduated anyway), life after graduation is pretty similar to life before graduation. The only difference being a rapid and prolonged spike in petty frustration, monotony, boredom, and the almost-certain possibility of failing miserably at something in your near future. Fortunately, though, literature has your back. Reading classic literature prepares you for all the dull moments just as well as it does the traumatic ones. After all, nothing can prepare you for the sheer ugliness of war like Gravity's Rainbow, just as nothing can prepare you for a lifetime of listless solitude like Robinson Crusoe.
Time management is a struggle. For most of us, college is the first time in our lives that the demands others place on us exceed our ability to supply them. It is a crucible through which we must endure in order to lead the lives that we desire for ourselves. The daily stresses that college brings makes it easy to rationalize your way out of reading. Sure, you may feel stretched thin on time. Okay, you're too stressed for that right now. Fine, whatever, you don't feel like it right now, but please don't pretend like it is not worth it to set aside a few minutes of your admittedly busy day to better understand the world and your relationship to it. Literature gives you the opportunity to enter the world of post-graduate adulthood a much fuller, more compassionate person than you would have been had you just continued with the basic excuse of “I just don't have time to read."
