Interacting with literature

I'm looking forward to a series of posts by Carolyn Weber, entitled I Read Dead People, that she describes as such:

In this upcoming series, I would like to examine a handful of examples from literary greats, and consider how they challenge and inform our faith walk. The list need not be limited to Christian writers, or overtly Christian topics. I have found that to be irrelevant in the long run, as everything I have ever read, and continue to read, regardless of cultural or spiritual context or background, still speaks to me in some way of the human condition, our need for redemption, and most powerfully, the glory of God.

 You can follow this series by visiting her site regularly: Pressing Save: Reading, Writing, and Living the Word Eternal. She can also be found on Twitter: @CarolynWeber and @PressingSave .


In light of anticipating Weber's series on interacting with literature, I thought I would collect and present my blog posts in which I have reflected on classic literature that I was reading. The posts are listed under the author who's literature I interacted with.




Dumas:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/10/we-believe-were-much-mre-unhappy.html


 
Dostoyevsky:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/11/grotesque.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/11/all-ways-are-thine.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/11/pre-piperian-christian-hedonism.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/11/dostoyevsky-on-repentance.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/07/engage-to-read.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/06/packer-on-dostoyevsky.html


 
Shelley:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/05/despair-guilt-and-remorse-in.html


 
Goethe:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2010/01/from-faust-by-goethe.html


 
Donne:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2009/11/john-donne-holy-sonnets-xv.html


 
Steinbeck:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/06/perfect-among-mornings.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/06/detatchment-of-god.html


 
Tolstoy:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/07/loss-of-our-wealth.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-never-regretted-anything.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/06/packer-on-dostoyevsky.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2010/10/from-leo-tolstoys-short-story-death-of.html


 
Shakespeare:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/06/macbeth-and-preacher.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/01/shakespeare-on-stuff_16.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-will-these-hands-neer-be-clean.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2010/04/shakespeare-and-burroughs.html

http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/05/shakespeare-and-psalm-46.html


 
Solzhenitsyn:
http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2009/05/quoting-solzhenitsyn.html

We believe we're much more unhappy

"Alas," said Monte Cristo, "it is the infirmity of our nature always to believe ourselves much more unhappy than those who groan by our sides."

I must confess the above quote, from Alexadre Dumas' classic work of fiction The Count of Monte Cristo, was convicting to read. The adage that all truth is God's truth is certainly true in this case. I find that I overestimate my own suffering, maximizing it's impact in my own mind. Simultaneously, I also minimize the difficulty that other people are experiencing. I want to have a disposition that recognizes other's suffering and respond accordingly. My inward focus and self- inflated view of my own troubles is far from Christ-exalting.