This week I was in Norway for the publication of There Are Rivers in the Sky. In the land of Henrik Ibsen who once wisely said “the worst that a man can do to himself is to do injustice to others.”
As always, a moving article. I’m a man, an old man now, nearly 76 years of life behind me, and certainly only a few ahead. I’ve been a reader all of my life. I grew up with the Hardy Boys and with Zane Grey. Except for what I was required to read in my pursuit of a PHd it has always been novels, no one ever told me that as a man I shouldn’t read novels. Is that because I grew up in an essentially female household, my father having passed when I was only 11 years old? If so, that is yet another gift that my wonderful mother gave me, “Thanks mom, I owe you even more than I realized.”
And thank you for all of your wonderful stories that have brought so much pleasure into my life in the past couple of years. Keep writing, I need your words’ we need your words.
As a boy, I began reading fiction and never stopped. Along the way, fiction guided me to poetry and other languages, but unfortunately, I'm only literate in two and have to settle with translations. Thank you, Elif, for mentioning The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is long overdue for a read as an old man.
A wonderful piece, thank you. You're so right about the power of fiction to transform. At it's best fiction plants seeds of new understandings within us that will sprout over time; guide us to take responsibility for ourselves and the world we live in; teach us empathy and other fundamental human qualities such as compassion, patience and strength of will; entertain us; comfort us; offer us new possibilities; and celebrate both our differences and our commonalities.
I've just finished Rivers in the Sky and it is one of those stories that plants seeds such as this. It broke my heart but in a beautiful way.
In the "narrative paradigm" of psychotherapy, we are the stories we tell ourselves. Therefore, we have the exciting option of "editing" those stories and changing our selves.
Humans have always made sense of the world through stories. When our stories conflict with the findings of "science", people often hold tighter to their preferred narratives. Sometimes this hurts us.
How beautiful. This very act of safely stowing away a manuscript with the wish for it to be read and cherished by future generations is one of hope, and also faith in the transformative and comforting power of stories which endure throughout time as you so eloquently describe. I think we need these little acts of hope more than ever at the moment, but I also think that maybe future generations need us to have hope more than we need it for ourselves.
Oslo is a really beautiful and strangely symbolic choice of place for a future library to be located when you consider the permafrost farther north, safely storing away the remnants of past ecosystems. The two things existing within such a relatively close proximity to each another and the strange and unsettling juxtaposition between them inevitably made me think about climate change, what will the world look like in 100 years?
If there were no fictions to read, I would go insane. More than any other art, music, movies, novels take me elsewhere and help me sleep. I also prefer my fiction on paper in the form of actual books.
“How inspiring that a poem made of words and made of breath can be more enduring than the mightiest empires and greediest rulers.”
There are rivers in the sky. Something has always been here that knew us before we arrived. That essence endures. Sometimes somebody comes along and helps us catch a glimpse of it. There are rivers in the sky. Sometimes we get to ride one. Nostos. Thanks Elif. Thanks for helping us men read fiction. Blessings. 🙏❤️
Such an interesting concept! And I love „There Are Rivers in the Sky“ - so touching and heartwarming, despite of all the sorrow in the novel. Thank you!
I love your take on the Epic of Gilgamesh and its timelessness. We are all stories in motion. We carry stories in our hearts across time and space and multiple births.
It's certainly an untrue statement that men don't read fiction--certainly plenty have written it! It's just one of those things some silly person says, perhaps defensively or out of embarrassment because they themselves don't read.
My dad read the Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy to me and my brothers as we were growing up. (My mom read more picture books to us early on.) It was a foundational experience for me and the one that connects me most strongly to my father. I read all sorts now (just started Octavia Butler's 'Parable of the Sower'--borrowed from my brother's extensive collection) and will continue to do so as long as I live. And thankfully, my son enjoys a good book now and again too.
An excellent piece, Elif, thank you! I would love to visit that library someday.
This is weird! I just discovered you and delight in your writing. When I read this piece, the Epic of Gilgamesh leapt from the page. Last night my husband, out of the blue, asked if I'd ever read it. He's reading Stephen Mitchell, and I think Mitchell recommended it. And I had read it because of a survey course offered my first year of college. On another topic, I fell in love with my husband years ago because he reads novel and poetry. A quarter century later, we read the same books and then discuss them, our own marital book club.
As always, a moving article. I’m a man, an old man now, nearly 76 years of life behind me, and certainly only a few ahead. I’ve been a reader all of my life. I grew up with the Hardy Boys and with Zane Grey. Except for what I was required to read in my pursuit of a PHd it has always been novels, no one ever told me that as a man I shouldn’t read novels. Is that because I grew up in an essentially female household, my father having passed when I was only 11 years old? If so, that is yet another gift that my wonderful mother gave me, “Thanks mom, I owe you even more than I realized.”
And thank you for all of your wonderful stories that have brought so much pleasure into my life in the past couple of years. Keep writing, I need your words’ we need your words.
As a boy, I began reading fiction and never stopped. Along the way, fiction guided me to poetry and other languages, but unfortunately, I'm only literate in two and have to settle with translations. Thank you, Elif, for mentioning The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is long overdue for a read as an old man.
A wonderful piece, thank you. You're so right about the power of fiction to transform. At it's best fiction plants seeds of new understandings within us that will sprout over time; guide us to take responsibility for ourselves and the world we live in; teach us empathy and other fundamental human qualities such as compassion, patience and strength of will; entertain us; comfort us; offer us new possibilities; and celebrate both our differences and our commonalities.
I've just finished Rivers in the Sky and it is one of those stories that plants seeds such as this. It broke my heart but in a beautiful way.
In the "narrative paradigm" of psychotherapy, we are the stories we tell ourselves. Therefore, we have the exciting option of "editing" those stories and changing our selves.
Humans have always made sense of the world through stories. When our stories conflict with the findings of "science", people often hold tighter to their preferred narratives. Sometimes this hurts us.
Thanks for this lovely essay Elif! 👏
How beautiful. This very act of safely stowing away a manuscript with the wish for it to be read and cherished by future generations is one of hope, and also faith in the transformative and comforting power of stories which endure throughout time as you so eloquently describe. I think we need these little acts of hope more than ever at the moment, but I also think that maybe future generations need us to have hope more than we need it for ourselves.
Oslo is a really beautiful and strangely symbolic choice of place for a future library to be located when you consider the permafrost farther north, safely storing away the remnants of past ecosystems. The two things existing within such a relatively close proximity to each another and the strange and unsettling juxtaposition between them inevitably made me think about climate change, what will the world look like in 100 years?
If there were no fictions to read, I would go insane. More than any other art, music, movies, novels take me elsewhere and help me sleep. I also prefer my fiction on paper in the form of actual books.
What a magical piece of writing Elif!
I could imagine myself in that space.
Full of imaginings. And imagination is the main thing that separates us from the other animals.
“How inspiring that a poem made of words and made of breath can be more enduring than the mightiest empires and greediest rulers.”
There are rivers in the sky. Something has always been here that knew us before we arrived. That essence endures. Sometimes somebody comes along and helps us catch a glimpse of it. There are rivers in the sky. Sometimes we get to ride one. Nostos. Thanks Elif. Thanks for helping us men read fiction. Blessings. 🙏❤️
Such an interesting concept! And I love „There Are Rivers in the Sky“ - so touching and heartwarming, despite of all the sorrow in the novel. Thank you!
Huge congratulations on your inclusion in "The Room" in 2018. What an honor, Elif!
I love your take on the Epic of Gilgamesh and its timelessness. We are all stories in motion. We carry stories in our hearts across time and space and multiple births.
Great idea! BUT we need more Nobel prize winners to be invited to write for the library.
Beautiful ❤️
It's certainly an untrue statement that men don't read fiction--certainly plenty have written it! It's just one of those things some silly person says, perhaps defensively or out of embarrassment because they themselves don't read.
My dad read the Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy to me and my brothers as we were growing up. (My mom read more picture books to us early on.) It was a foundational experience for me and the one that connects me most strongly to my father. I read all sorts now (just started Octavia Butler's 'Parable of the Sower'--borrowed from my brother's extensive collection) and will continue to do so as long as I live. And thankfully, my son enjoys a good book now and again too.
An excellent piece, Elif, thank you! I would love to visit that library someday.
This is weird! I just discovered you and delight in your writing. When I read this piece, the Epic of Gilgamesh leapt from the page. Last night my husband, out of the blue, asked if I'd ever read it. He's reading Stephen Mitchell, and I think Mitchell recommended it. And I had read it because of a survey course offered my first year of college. On another topic, I fell in love with my husband years ago because he reads novel and poetry. A quarter century later, we read the same books and then discuss them, our own marital book club.
i just realised that we won't be around to read the future literature that is yet to be written or the ones already written the future library :(