Escape and Re-engage

I was listening to BBC Radio 4's Front Row this evening, which included an interview with the author Lloyd Jones (who had a lovely New Zealand accent). It centered around his book 'Mister Pip', which tells the story of a schoolgirl in Papua New Guinea who takes refuge in the world of Charles Dicken's 'Great Expectations' during a time of civil war.

Lloyd Jones talked about the power that literature has to take us somewhere else and provide us with extraordinary imaginative experiences - in short to change our lives. He added that it is usually self-help books which are considered life-changing! My feeling is that all books can be life-changing. In terms of literature it is sometimes more unexpected, as you pick up a novel for a different reason perhaps.

He also made the interesting comment that whilst literature allows us to escape, we do this only to re-engage. In other words the books help us to relate to what is going on in our own lives. This begs the question, do self-help books ever allow us to escape. I guess that escape isn't on your mind when you pick up that type of book, but in some ways, you escape into a different aspect of yourself, rather than into an imaginary world.

Either way, books do take us on a journey, and where would we be without them!

If you would like to hear the entire interview with Lloyd Jones, click here and enjoy!