Why I’m reading more philosophy this year
The thrill of a good quote.
Since the turn of the year, I’ve been reading more, and my attention has somehow gravitated towards philosophy. It started when I saw Albert Camus’ The Stranger on yet another list of “existentialism starter packs”. As a freelancer between projects (and also one figuring out life), I decided that this would be my year of learning. I downloaded it on my Kindle and dove in during my winter vacation at home.
I thought it would be dense and difficult to get through because it was a modern classic, but this was so…readable, and engrossing. This reminded me of something I think about a lot with films: good films are extremely watchable. The awards and the critical acclaim sometimes make me wary that it will be too intense or cerebral when I’m craving something light. On the contrary! I feel like my mind opens up after I watch a good film. The story stays with me, I feel genuinely affected, and most of all, I have fun and am not bored. When I insist on consuming something “light”, it often becomes background noise, and after two hours, I feel just the same as I do after I have binged a packet of chips against my better judgement.
Encouraged by The Stranger, I stuck with fiction from authors who famously had existentialist themes. I thought I’ll read a short work of Dostoyevski. I began White Nights—short, entertaining, and again, not at all scary. Though if I’m honest, the book gave me a bit of an ick (I suppose it was the protagonist’s obsessive yearning).
Still on the existentialist trail, I turned to Jean-Paul Sartre next and started No Exit. A genre I hadn't touched in over a decade, it was my first time reading a play since my school days. No Exit was no Pygmalion (how good is Pygmalion by the way?), quite different in the theme, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.
Finishing these books in quick succession made me realise a few things.
Philosophy is not just for academics. It is essential reading because it makes you make sense of yourself, and the world around you. Of the three, The Stranger is the one that stayed with me the longest. I noticed how the protagonist Meursault worried only about what was happening to him in the moment. His disconnect from others was troubling, but his ability to exist purely in the present moment made me notice this quality in others, though manifested in healthier ways. This idea of being present is something I explored in a previous essay (which has been my most loved one yet) which brings me to my next realisation…
You can only write more, and write better, when you read more and read more widely. I love writing; it has always been the way I best express myself, and I've been determined to get back to it seriously. Reading philosophy—and these authors—makes my writing richer, giving it nuance. I'm a better writer than I was before, and I think it shows.
Do not be daunted by critically acclaimed works. They are, in my experience, extremely readable and a lot of fun! I now intend to read more classics. We often value our worth through our profession, but reading (especially quality works) makes me value my worth through the quality of my thoughts, and how I perceive the world around me.
These books are very quotable. Drop 'Hell is other people' (from No Exit) in a random conversation and you will not be forgotten easily. Why not read these thinkers for aesthetic reasons? Sometimes, reading something just to drop a good line later is reason enough.
I have read fourteen books so far this year. Earlier, hitting this kind of number would have been my goal. Now, I feel like this is just the byproduct of my curiosity. The past few months have been highly rewarding because of the wide variety of books I’ve managed to read—from wonderful fictions like The Vegetarian and The Anthropologists, to the philosophy classics mentioned, to memoirs like Careless People and Orwell’s Why I Write, and more.
I want to keep going. To self-study, take notes, and remember more. To be a lifelong learner. I don’t know where it’ll lead, but I know I want to keep going.
hell IS other people, but I love you and love this for you <3