tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post5468770408988972449..comments2009-10-12T16:24:36.730-04:00Maja Djikichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16522265542660035768noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-88972258607080358852009-10-12T16:24:36.730-04:002009-10-12T16:24:36.730-04:00There are words from novels read decades ago that are still imprinted on my brain. Not all were painful, but some were - the ones that made you put the book aside quickly...but then you came back, to check, to see what you were made of.Franhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13545648992948168762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-2053146884657074682009-10-10T18:01:23.262-04:002009-10-10T18:01:23.262-04:00Thanks for your comments, Brian and Valentine. I think you're right, Brian, that it really is only in retrospect that one can assess whether the pain of reading a particular fictional work was worth it. I suppose that before reading we can ask friends about their reading experience of a work, perhaps paying more attention to the assessments of readers whose emotional thresholds are similar to our own. But once we have taken the plunge, and find ourselves feeling overwhelmed emotionally, those distancing strategies may be all we have to work with.Rebecca Wells Joplinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09485890436841556217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-55288873903587864942009-10-09T00:23:29.820-04:002009-10-09T00:23:29.820-04:00That's a really nice treatment of this process.Kirsten Valentine Cadieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04781128427942978109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-6923015460591747032009-10-06T06:01:44.024-04:002009-10-06T06:01:44.024-04:00NSometimes people just find reading certain novels very painful so they have to develop strategies for dealing with that, building in recovery time from each emotional shock. At one end of the spectrum a strategy might be simply stopping reading altogether; then there's a whole variety of slowing techniques as one struggles to cope. Sometimes the pain is clearly worth it; sometimes it isn't. You only really know afterwards.Brian Keaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17754984212153946279noreply@blogger.com