Literature and pain

[ghostfriendly]

I've always thought that illustrating true pain and despair are some of the most important purposes of literature and storytelling. With my fairly comfortable life, I assumed that a picture of the world's grimness would be necessary for me to feel compassion and empathy for child soldiers and trapped bureaucrats.  What message could be more vital

Comments

[ghostfriendly]

Thanks. I'll see what I can do.

[el_staplador]

You might want to have a look at Susan Howatch's Starbridge series. (The first one is Glittering Images.) She's not the world's greatest writer, but she is very convincing on the interplay between faith and psychology. Her characters are mostly clergy - not from your tradition, as far as I can remember, but I am sure that this needn't be a problem. But this was certainly the first thing I thought of when I read 'I want them to have tension, real despair, and room for interpretation. They must have hope, and the hope can only be God'.

[ghostfriendly]

Sounds interesting. One of my present concerns is that psychological reinforcement effects exist as well as the holy spirit, and that when you doubt your own faith, faith becomes harder.