Great posts that need more attention, Shawn! Have you signed up to @qurator yet? It's a good way to get seen.
Just look at the message boards or comment sections of many popular websites to see lack of empathy in action. People say astoundingly hurtful things over the internet that in most cases they would never say to someone if they were looking them in the eye and could actually see how it affected that person.
Being an internet junkie, I found this part very true; something that makes me cringe far too often.
I haven't read a hell of a lot of fiction since I was a teenager. These days I read a lot of travelogues, and other types of non-fiction books about things that interest me personally. So I'm not really sure what you mean by literary fiction. Could you give me couple of examples?
Definitely in the past I have used fiction to develop empathy, as well as movies (I tend to watch movies that are emotionally challenging, like American History X, Requiem For A Dream and Blade Runner, as a few examples) and I found that those have definitely helped me with empathy. I think the two biggest ones for me, however, have been bartending (which I have done on-and-off for about 5 years), and travelling, especially to overwhelmingly conservative countries with vastly different values to western countries.
No I haven't signed up with @qurator yet. It seems like a great idea. However, I converted all my SBD earnings from my intro post into steempower before realizing that it might be a good idea to keep some around. Now I have to wait a couple more days until more SBD hit my account.
I haven't read a lot of literary fiction either, to be honest, although it's on my to do list. The thing about literary fiction is that it can be a bit difficult to get into, as the stories often lack excitement and the meanings of various events and character actions can be quite difficult to interpret. It's usually not something you can just pick up and read with your brain turned off. Most fiction that remains famous for many years is literary. Popular fiction tends to have a short lifespan. A few famous literary examples you probably heard of: The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, Lolita.
Great choices of movies, by the way! Requiem for a Dream is quite an experience. It's a very good movie, but not something I would want to watch repeatedly. I had to stare at a blank wall for about half an hour after it finished, because it affected me so strongly.
I have never tended bar, but I can certainly imagine that it's an especially great way to improve empathy! And yeah, traveling for sure. I should have included that one in the post!
I'm gonna jump on the qurator Discord channel right now and recommend you to @scrooger, who is the head curator. He sponsored my entrance fee because I'm a newbie, so he may do the same for you!
Would Ernest Hemingway count as literary fiction? I read The Sun Also Rises recently and it was incredibly moving, and I definitely felt a lot of empathy for his characters, who all had some pretty severe emotional shortcomings - sexism, racism, infidelity, aggression etc.
Wow, thank you. I appreciate it!
Hemingway is definitely literary. His fiction is probably among the most accessible of literary fiction, as he has a very straightforward style. I'm going to add The Sun Also Rises to my reading list, as it sounds worth a read!
I've contacted @scrooger and he's reviewing your blog. Fingers crossed!
Thanks! Curious how it went...