#literature

[prokopetz]

"Why does this 19th Century novel have such a boring protagonist" well, for a lot of reasons, really, but one of the big ones is that you're possibly getting the protagonist and the narrator mixed up.

A lot of 19th Century literary critics had this weird hate-boner for omniscient narrators – stories would straight up get criticised as "unrealistic" on the grounds that it was unlikely anyone could have witnessed their events in the manner described, like some sort of proto-CinemaSins bullshit – so authors who didn't want to write their stories from the first-person perspective of one of the participating characters would often go to great lengths to contrive for there to be a Dude present to witness and narrate the story's events.

It's important to understand that the Dude is the viewpoint character, but not the protagonist. His function is to witness stuff, and he only directly participates in the narrative to the extent that's necessary to explain to the satisfaction of persnickety critics why he's present and how he got there. Giving him a personality would defeat the purpose!

(Though lowbrow fiction was unlikely to encounter such criticisms, the device of the elaborately justified diegetic narrator was often present there as well, and was sometimes parodied to great effect – for example, by having the story narrated by a very unlikely party, such as a sapient insect, or by a party whose continued presence is justified in increasingly comical ways.)

[mikilavellan]

To the girl in my literature class who referred to the forgiveness of Mr. Tumnus as "just christian propoganda," you have lived rent free in my head for three years.

When you one day find yourself looking in the mirror and seeing Mr. Tumnus looking back at you, not because you were necessarily not brave enough, wise enough, or kind enough to avoid becoming Mr. Tumnus, but because everyone takes a turn being Mr. Tumnus, I hope you have a Lucy by your side.

[what-iz-life]

Your soul knows. It will let you know when it's time to distance yourself from people who no longer align with you mentally, emotionally, physically, or energetically.

[thespilledquotes]

It’s so difficult to describe depression to someone who’s never been there, because it’s not sadness. I know sadness. Sadness is to cry and to feel. But it’s that cold absence of feeling— that really hollowed-out feeling.

J.K. Rowling

[thoughtkick]

Never apologize for burning too brightly or collapsing into yourself every night. That is how galaxies are made.

Tyler Kent White

[thoughtcascades]

"why didn't you ask for help?"

because u saw i was struggling and didn't offer

[thepersonalquotes]

[metamorphesque]

"I'm no longer looking for you...", Hovhannes Grigoryan (translated by tathev simonyan)

[urxiaolongbaos]

The words unfurled in a mélange of opulence.

[thatsbelievable]

[perfectquote]

Actions always prove why words mean nothing.

Unknown

[ivynightshade]

fatima aamer bilal, excerpt from moony moonless sky’s ‘i am an observer, but not by choice.’

[text id: i often asked myself / do i want love / or do i want proof that i am loveable?]

[emotionalwords]

[shisasan]

May 17, 1926 Journals of Anais Nin 1923-1927 [volume 3]

[thespilledquotes]

Take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You're doing just fine.

Charlotte Eriksson

[thoughtkick]

I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.

Carl Gustav Jung