{"id":5343,"date":"2013-06-04T19:01:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T23:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=5343"},"modified":"2013-06-04T19:01:40","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T23:01:40","slug":"the-consolation-of-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=5343","title":{"rendered":"The consolation of literature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes good literature can make your life better,<\/strong> in more than the pleasure-giving sense.
\nTake Mark Helprin\u2019s In Sunlight and in Shadow<\/i><\/a>, which I reviewed the other day.
\nHarry, the hero, is haunted by his experiences as an airborne ranger in World War II. There\u2019s a particular scene where he tells his fianc\u00e9e about one incident he can\u2019t get out of his head. \u201cThere was nothing I could do,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I feel responsible.\u201d
\nThat, friends, is The Song of My People \u2013 my people being trauma victims of various sorts. Due to circumstances of a very different kind, I too am haunted \u2013 bedeviled \u2013 by memories. Memories of bad things that happened \u2013 often things I did that I\u2019m ashamed of \u2013 that just won\u2019t lie down and die.
\nIt\u2019s comforting to me to tell myself, \u201cThink about Harry, and people like him. Whatever you\u2019ve done, it didn\u2019t involve anybody dying.\u201d\u2019
\nThis doesn\u2019t mean my flashbacks are going to disappear. My Complex PTSD (not actually a disorder currently recognized by the professionals) is, I know very well, capable of infinite adaptation.
\nBut for now it helps. Thank you, Mark Helprin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes good literature can make your life better, in more than the pleasure-giving sense. Take Mark Helprin\u2019s In Sunlight and in Shadow, which I reviewed the other day. Harry, the hero, is haunted by his experiences as an airborne ranger in World War II. There\u2019s a particular scene where he tells his fianc\u00e9e about one … Continue reading The consolation of literature<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[1764],"class_list":["post-5343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading","tag-mark-helprin"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}