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24 LiTERATURE The Stag | 22nd May 2012 literature@thestagsurrey.co.uk Lose Yourself in Lies By Rachel Thomason, Literature Team I ’m sure many of us, at some point, have become lost within the pages of a gripping novel that, until you surface, almost becomes a reality. But according to a study conducted by Ohio State University, literature can have such a profound impact on an individual that it can cause some people to actually alter their personalities. Blogger Alison Flood describes one of the studies about voting. Conducted on undergraduates, it was found that after reading a story in which the people had to overcome an obstacle of some sort to vote, the reader was far more likely to go out and vote themselves. The researchers also revealed that boys who had read a story where a young man was revealed to be gay early on had less tolerance for homosexuality than those who read a story where the man was revealed to be gay further in. Leader of the study, Geoff Kaufman, explained that it was because they were able to identify with the characters before he was revealed as gay and therefore were able to relate to them. However, as Flood points out, these are all very positive situations. Is fiction just as influential in a negative way? 1. If you turned on the T.V, which of the following programmes would you watch? a. Midsummer Murders. b. How I Met Your Mother c. Supernatural. d. E! True Hollywood story. 2. Your perfect job is. a. Detective. b. Wedding planner. c. Haunted House manager. d. Showbiz editor for a Newspaper. 3. Your favourite Simpson character is. a. Chief Wiggum. b. Marge Simpson. c. Comic book Guy. d. Kent Brockman. 4. I like... a. The resolution. b. The happy ending. c. The journey. d. True life anecdotes. 5. Who would you most want at your dinner party? a. Sherlock Holmes. b. Jane Austen. c. J.R.R Tolkien. d. Stephen Fry. 6. Which themed party would you most prefer? a. Murder Mystery. b. Masquerade. c. Sci-fi. d. Hollywood. For example, the growing fantasies of teenage girls on finding their own vampire boyfriend or even stumbling upon true love which happens so often in Austen’s novels. What about when the themes of novels turn dark? Do violent, manipulating or homophobic characters influence readers to the same extent? Back in April, 15 year-old Daniel Bartlam was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years for murdering his own mother after being inspired by a storyline in Coronation Street. It was also revealed that he’d been watching the film Saw hours before committing the murder. Although this is a rare case, it is nevertheless an example of the effect that fictitious stories and characters can have on individuals, particularly the young and easilyinfluenced. There are certainly plenty of novels revolving around murder mystery, sadism and violence which regularly top the bestsellers list. With this amount of popularity perhaps there really is a cause for concern over its potential effects. So next time you pick up a book, remember that there is a whole world waiting for you, but one that you should completely separate from reality. What books shall I read..? Mostly a) If you answered mostly A to the questions, you should think about trying a crime novel, or a mystery. An analytical mind helps follow the clues and the satisfaction to find ‘who dunnit’ makes it all worth it. Try James Patterson, a great, accessible author. His Women’s murder club series is great to get invested with the characters, but with a crime each book, it gives you the fix of solving the crime. Mostly b) Answering mostly B shows you should try a Romance. There’s nothing wrong with rooting for a couple and hoping for a happy ending. If you’d prefer a classic novel, you should pick up a Jane Austin, a subtle love story. Or if you’d prefer a more passionate story, The Time Traveller’s Wife shows love despite troubles. a) Crime/Mystery b) Romantic/comedy c) Fantasy/ Adventure d) Autobiography Mostly c) By answering mostly C, it sounds as if you’d like a fantasy or adventure novel. The quests intrigue and excite you, and the final destination is amazing, as long as there’s a battle. A classic adventure series is The Lord of the Rings trilogy and if you’ve seen the films, why not follow them up with the books? Or if you prefer less fantasy, more sci-fi, Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a great start! Mostly d) Finally, if you answered mostly D, you should steer towards an autobiography. Check out your favourite celebrity, they’ve probably released one of their own! They’re normally funny, and really insightful, giving you another dimension that a magazine can’t give. Dawn French’s Dear Fatty is hilarious, and a great story, mostly about her father. By Becky Richmond, Literature Team ©Ian Wilson © Helga Wber
Lit Editor: Alexandra Wilks | Copy Editor: Candice Ritchie By Becky Richmond, Literature Team The world is changing; over 200-million people use Facebook and Twitter every day. As the internet world grows and becomes part of our world, we must adapt to incorporate and embrace this technologically-advanced world. Although the Kindle and e-books are a step in the right direction for embracing technology and social networks, AJ Hanks, the author of a new ‘interactive novel’ sees these as a tofu hot dog: something replaced but with no real benefit. Why replace a printed book with a Kindle when you could get a novel on the iPhone attached to your arm? AJ’s new novel Someplace Unknown offers a simple website design to appreciate, essentially, the writing behind the technology. With no real page turning it feels more like reading a diary rather than a novel, which makes you engage with the characters on a whole new level. The interactive part is just as simple and effective. Pictures during the chapters, interesting and sometimes seemingly irrelevant, draw you back into the novel. The experimental structure of the book hopes to engage the reader’s imagination by allowing them to interpret their own meaning of the pictures. AJ hopes that the reader evolves as they read the novel and he’s excited that the website can evolve as technology does. The technological advances surrounding this novel aren’t the only thing about the story. The novel is very well written, The Stag | 22 nd May 2012 LiTERATURE 25 Someplace Unknown Are you the next Strauss, Freud or Saussure? By Sophie Vickery, Literature Team To be a critic of literature has got to be one of the best jobs in the world. Just imagine English Literature students and professors of the future spending hours of dedicated revision, research and work following and applying your opinions and theories. But how does one become an English critic? The first step to take, and perhaps the most obvious, is to read, and to read widely. This helps to acquire not just knowledge of different genres, contexts and writers, but it also triggers inspiration, opinion and ideas by comparing texts against each other. The second step to becoming a critic will build this knowledge further as it involves studying literature at a deeper level. This may involve taking a course in the subject or pursuing a degree. Any way of improving the ability to analyse texts, ask the right questions and explore themes, symbolism and flaws within texts will improve the chances of forming credible theories. Another way of exploring literature more widely and to absorb a range of opinions is to join a book club. Weekly meetings bestow the opportunity to challenge ideas, discuss and hear approaches you may not have previously considered. Finally, comes the most daunting part; the writing of your critique. This will need to begin on a small scale by writing literature reviews. Starting a blog is a great way of practicing to critique books, especially as few people will be inclined to read the reviews of new critics entering a world abundant in established professionals. Once the reviews gain respect they may be suitable for magazine submission. This is a difficult hurdle to overcome, but once passed, critics often find they gain much more attention, as their theories are immediately accessible to wider audiences. Following this, critics could find their theories appearing in books or as part of the research by students. Of course, this will take a lot of hard work and persistence and new critics will need to be prepared to overcome rejection. However, the thought of future generations sporting your thoughts during seminars, essays and books is surely enough to support perseverance and before you know it you could be the next Freud, Saussure or Strauss! “AJ hopes that the reader evolves as they read the novel and he’s excited that the website can evolve as technology does.” it’s touching and it’s insightful. The importance placed upon the technology doesn’t take away from the message of the book, however. The book focuses on suicide, secrets and guilt - such widespread and hard-hitting problems, and always relevant. Someplace Unknown spreads the light on the secrets and guilt that everyone has: the specifics may not be the same, but they’re always there. The characters are interesting, and you want to read on to find out the big secret at the climax. Not only is the novel interactive in the technological sense, but it interacts with you and makes you think about your secrets, and after you buy the novel on the first website, you’ll have access to a second website where you can share your secrets with others, which is a proven therapy. The novel engages you in more than one way. Technologically, emotionally and personally. The novel is beautiful; it’s touching, exciting and thrilling. Not only is it beautifully written, it challenges the ideas of what a book is: it’s a step forward and an embrace of the technological future we will soon find ourselves in.
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