Reading enhances emotional depth, helps process societal grief: critic

Literary critic Shin Hyung-cheol posits that reading is a profound act that "enhances the resolution of emotions," enabling individuals to develop a richer emotional landscape and a deeper understanding of life. In a recent talk at a Seoul bookstore, Shin explained that to avoid becoming "꼰대", someone who believes they no longer need to learn about others, one must engage in "study to lose." This continuous learning, he suggests, is essential for bridging the gap between language and lived experience.

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To avoid becoming someone who believes they no longer need to study others, one must engage in 'study to lose.'

Shin's work, particularly his book 'A Sadness That Studies Sadness,' delves into the profound grief experienced by individuals, societies, and nations. He argues that literature plays a crucial role in addressing collective sorrow by giving form and voice to victims' pain, thereby creating a "counter-narrative" that challenges dominant historical accounts. This process, he notes, is vital for communal healing and for fostering a more nuanced understanding of societal traumas.

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Giving shape to the pain of victims through language, and ensuring it exists in the public sphere, can provide a counter-narrative that allows for a different way of thinking about disaster and participate in the struggle of social narratives.

Drawing on James Wood's "How Fiction Works," Shin illustrates how literature allows readers to grasp life's intricate details more effectively. This enhanced comprehension, he contends, translates into practical application in real life, making individuals "better readers of life." The distinction between AI-generated text and genuine reading lies in this cultivation of emotional detail. Characters in literature, by experiencing emotions beyond simple "happy" or "sad," expand their own emotional repertoire, and readers, in turn, broaden their emotional horizons, learning about "the possibility of new emotional states."

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Self-reading allows one to become someone who can see emotional details (resolution) with high clarity.

When discussing how to "praise accurately" in literary criticism, Shin references Japanese critic Kobayashi Hideo's idea that "criticism is clever praise." A critic, in this view, is someone who learns from a work, and through cognitive empathy, can come to understand emotions that might otherwise remain inaccessible. Ultimately, Shin concludes, reading is not for others but for oneself, a journey of self-discovery and emotional expansion. The atmosphere of the event was characterized by a sense of "permeation," reflecting the warmth and depth Shin brings to his engagement with literature and his readers.

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Criticism is clever praise.