How did literature affect you as a person?

made my run on jeopardy much easier

>F. Kafka

Damn, it made me unable to lie

It made me think about things in an artsy way.

Literature is the gateway to idea's that are either far more complex than we could conceive all at once, or challenge our beliefs altogether. Literature does not change us; it is a catalyst or reactant complementary to our own effort.
Personally, I found my life was no where near as unique or special as I ever thought it as a lad. It humbled me and showed me a path in life that has allowed me to be confident, and driven. Literature was a medicine for my mind
>tips fedora

Made me less depressed by broadening my worlview and creating endless hypotheticals to contemplate

bump

I don't know. To be honest, I've been reading since I learned how to (A little late, I confess, because I grew up bilingual). It's been such an integral part of my life, that I honestly can't imagine what I'd be like without it.

Though, because of depression, I sometimes get into these funks where I can't read anything, and then I want to kill myself (because I can't read).

But it didn't help me much, I guess. I was fucking crazy for a long time. Books just gave me an escapist outlet to ignore my problems.

I think intelligence is mostly inherent. I think I'm intelligent because I'm inherently very curious and can grasp complex ideas. I don't think reading improves that much, to be completely honest.

But reading a good book, fiction or non-fiction really tickles the curiosity nodes, so they open doors and get you to consume information that you might not have otherwise.

tl;dr: I don't know. I don't think books made me smarter, but they did get me interested in a lot of things I wouldn't have thought about otherwise.

Gaining knowledge is it's own reward

I had no direction in my life, I was apathetic and indifferent to everything. I had nothing to look forward or devote myself to, I had nothing to think about, I had nothing to do but my "duties". Wake up, coffee, memorize lectures, go home, drink through the weekend, repeat. I started reading more. I grew to love reading and writing. I love literature. There's something I can do with all my heart. I can now say that I have a plan, that I can work towards something, that I have goals to accomplish, an idealistic life I can strive to live.

I believe it has made me kinder, more emphatic, a better conversationalist and better at formulating my own thoughts and feelings. It has also shown to be a worthwhile pastime without a conceivable endpoint.

But it's hard to isolate the effect of reading literature, and it would be foolish of me to think that the traits I've listed are a result of reading alone and not influenced by other aspects of my life.

Before reading literature:
>Ideologue
>Hateful person
>Life is unbearable at times

After reading literature:
>Accepted the truth and the reality of living
>Loving person
>Life is bearable because I made it bearable

Without the novels I read, I would have never known there were cynical analytic philosophical thinkers like me in every time period. It's comforting to know there are others who can look at life from different perspectives and use satire, scifi, or even just normal essay style rhetoric to paint a picture of those perspectives.

Also, I can totally relate on the whole giving me purpose thing. Trash user to college honors user.

Actually I lied. I'm more depressed than ever and the overwhelming amound of information cripples my will to be productive

>reads Dostoevsky once

Nice.

I felt always as though I were hanging over a void; up there everything that had ever happened to me seemed unreal, and worse than unreal - unnecessary. Instead of joining me to life, to men, to the activity of men, the bridge seemed to break all connections. If I walked towards the one shore or the other it made no difference: either way was hell. Somehow I had managed to sever my connection with the world that human hands and human minds were creating. Perhaps my grandfather was right, perhaps I was spoiled in the bud by the books I read. But it is ages since books have claimed me. For a long time now I have practically ceased to read. But the taint is still there. Now people are books to me. I read them from cover to cover and toss them aside. I devour them, one after the other. And the more I read, the more insatiable I become. There is no limit to it. There could be no end, and there was none, until inside me a bridge began to form which united me again with the current of life from which as a child I had been separated.

Improved my writing, solidified my longing to write something of value that will outlive me long after I'm dead.

It cures ignorance, user.

Fuck that was good.

It isn't yours, is it.

I have become a recluse, however I no longer hate women. This is the worst.

I think literature has made my life better.

When I was younger I had few friends and a shaky home life so books were a welcome escape from that.

When I was older I still had more friends but I was your typical beta autist and as such I repelled women for the most part and was too autistic to notice the ones who liked me so I became depressed as I grew older I naturally read more philosophical works and gained a clearer understanding of myself, human society and my place within it leading me out of my depression.

unotices.com/book.php?id=72388&page=12

How much did you read before you got there? I thought I was there and then I kept reading and now it's back to square one. I'm objectively a better person, but I'm much less happy. And now I know how idiotic it is to feel that way which makes it even worse.

It's made me a much happier person and has given me fulfillment that was always missing from my previous hobbies.

Honestly bro I don't think literature changes you, though I do think it takes a certain kind of person to actively choose books in 2017.

I also think we don't learn "new" stuff when we read, we just learn different ways to express what we think and feel.

In glad to hear this, you sound like you enjoy life and are at a place you are comfortable in.

Thanks

wow this picture pretty much sums my life up

Made me cope with depression and got me a gf. Pretty good i'd say.

generally speaking we're too fickle to allow literature to determine our lives...

Any sort of media doesn't really affect me in any way. I think I may have some sort of a problem.

sorry, wrong board... 9136596

Bukowski taught me that I could still have dreams past 30. And that a failed journalist can become a great reporter of his own life.

Bettelheim, the Antichrist of psychology, helped me (professionally) cure (~) a little boy of his autism through playing games, like tag. "Whoever does is a person".

It caused me not to commit to any ideas, I can't even venture to call them my own. Encountering new ideas that appealed to me in contradicting ways, with no uniform higher logic or internal consistency has consumed me with skepticism. I cannot deny the appeal of certain ideas, but that is only proof of my lack of proofs.

I'm curious how people here tend to either improve their lives by becoming a more well-rounded and balanced person, or fall into a nihilistic void of depression and suffering.

Do the books/authors you read matter?

I wonder what causes people to go in such vastly different directions.

Write about it please

kek

>made me realize that im inherently superior to 99& of the world's population
this tbqh

I'm more isolated and miserable because I've started to hate conversing anyone. None of the people I talk to have things that are more interesting than the books I read or the hip, edgy, silly commentary I read on Veeky Forums. What skills I had once had in bolstering male fellowship and female courtship are dwindling.

I even decided to take literature courses at school but they're full of sor-frat assholes who don't even read (I picked an autist engineering/SPORTSBAWWL fraternity school). There's literary side events but this one girl I fawned over for a period of time but now must avoid the rest of my life or die from an anxiety attack attends all of them. I'm bloated with bile, hatred and misery and I want to go as far away as possible but I have to finish getting ny goddamn degree.

I'm also writing more often in hopes of one day being publishable or interesting and thus transcending my circumstances.

Your writing's okay but in dire need of editing.

99 % MINIMUM

unironically this

i'm more autistic now

>Do the books/authors you read matter?
>I wonder what causes people to go in such vastly different directions.
The same book can have widely disparate effects on people. It's less the medium and more so how it interacts with your personal psychology.

Nietzsche for example left me grieved and empty, for how can I pursue my will when I can't even identify it? I can''t help but view life as a lowly affair impossible to love or embrace as I find humanity vulgar and detestable, myself among their count.

>Hey guys, since reading literary works, did you notice any improvements/benefits on your life?
Nope.

Being itself is recreational.

More Dandruff

Brought joy to my life.

I'm more introverted. After reading philosophy and understanding just how smart some of these concepts are humbled me. Humbled me too much I thought I was smart once and now realise that I'm stupid beyond measure. I was faking the whole time off superficial knowledge on various banal topics. I Fucking hate the way I was so now remain quite so nobody notices the real me

I think reading Crime and Punishment cured me of my edgy phase

It's given me a little peace of mind - from time to time, at least. Whenever something happens in my life and a line from poetry or a novel floats into my head, it reminds me that I'm not alone, that other people have experienced these situations too, and that knowledge is soothing.

Literature makes me feel a little more connected to the world around me, and to the other people in it. It draws connections between lives, and highlights their differences as well as their similarities. It's about nudging the guy in the next seat and saying "that's the way it is, isn't it?" Even if they don't agree. When I read something that I can relate to or that seems to resonate with my own life, I feel a little thrill of connection with other human beings, with strangers, and know that we're all struggling through this mess as blind as one another, and that we're all going to be okay.

>and that we're all gonna be ok
Sorry, what?

I agree with the rest of the post.

Well, if you prefer, that we're all equally fucked. Just trying to be optimistic.

I wish my friend would learn a lesson or two from you. He thinks he knows everything, but in reality, it's nothing but charisma. He doesn't really know what he's talking about and knocks down those who actually are knowledgeable on whatever subject is brought up.

I read the Frankfurt School stuff so I could be a good goy. When the jews start killing Whites, I hope they spare me.