It appears to me quite tenable that the function of literature as a generated prize-worthy force is precisely that it does incite humanity to continue living; that it eases the mind of strain, and feeds it, I mean definitely as nutrition of impulse.
This idea may worry lovers of order. Just as good literature does often worry them. They regard it as dangerous, chaotic, subversive. They try every idiotic and degrading wheeze to tame it down. They try to make a bog, a marasmus, a great putridity in place of a sane and active ebullience. And they do this from sheer simian and pig-like stupidity, and from their failure to understand the function of letters.
From ‘How to Read’ by Ezra Pound. Read Pound’s How to Read [PDF]
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I love this: ‘literature… incite[s] humanity to continue living; it eases the mind of strain, and feeds it, I mean definitely as nutrition of impulse.’ Obviously all the arts do this, but perhaps literature is best placed to truly feed and nourish, because it can do it so deeply, because that’s what stories can do. Amazing huh?
Nigel, I actually came across the line about literature’s function – as Ezra saw it – in an essay by Marshall McLuhan on Pound’s critical prose. I put the book it was in away and that was that. But the line about nutrition of impulse resonated, so I Googled it and came across the original piece then cut what I thought was the section McLuhan quoted and posted it here. On second reading, however, it didn’t seem as profound. It turns out McLuhan paraphrased for greater effect… McLuhan’s edited version is below.