One thing living in the 21st century has taught me is that I cannot be a literature student if I have not read Dostoevsky or Kafka.
There are some writers who are seen as an obligation to read about; you are not considered literate enough. Open Instagram, Facebook, or any social media app and you will see it suggesting things you were thinking or talking of buying. This is not a coincidence to feel awe about because all these apps are always keeping track of our activity. So, it automatically brings forth content we like. Similarly, it also monitors trends and suggests accordingly. In this way, we must think about how dependent we have become on AI to discern what we like, what we want to see and what we want to read.
Literature is versatile and a vast field incorporating politics, culture, philosophy, psychology, environmentalism and whatnot. One cannot limit it to a few writers and books, creating a periphery for it and putting a full stop. There are a huge number of books published in the world, including classics and contemporary reads, but what we are seeing now is Instagram telling everyone “God is Dead and we have Killed Him”, not even clarifying the moral decay that Nietzsche said these very words.
In a room full of interviewees, I once encountered a few people discussing Animal Farm, literally, ignoring the fact that it is an allegory. On top of it, they had memorised the names of a few trending classical writers, making up their taste instead of actually finding it. The only point here is that we are just going with the flow and not trying something on our own. Where has the idea of roaming around in libraries gone? When did we start relying on these social media apps to suggest that we read ‘Metamorphosis,’ ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns,’ ‘The Stranger,’ and the famous Raskolnikov from ‘Crime and Punishment?’
The journey starts when we show interest in books and find them ourselves. There is a world away from classics and romance waiting to be discovered. Numerous websites offer book reviews; there is Goodreads to know the rating of the book, and so many articles discussing novels and critics doing their job with the most capable minds and words. But still, somehow we land on either Instagram or Facebook to see a clip of the book with a trending soundtrack at its back, alluring us immediately.
‘Moth Smoke’ and “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid, ‘A Case of Exploding Mangoes’ by Mohammad Hanif, ‘The Bride’ by Bapsi Sidhwa, ‘Salt and Saffron’ and ‘Burnt Shadows’ by Kamila Shamsie are a few of the amazing books one will have to look beyond their social media to find. The culture of going to book shops has almost died because people will simply order books online from the ads they see. This way, libraries have gone abandoned, and book shops remain empty because no one comes to look for books in peace.
It’s ironic how we, being individuals, are forced to be on the same page when it comes to trends.
Somebody once asked me if I had read ‘White Nights,’ based on a few Instagram reels they saw and how flattered they were by the dialogue, “Your hand is cold, mine burns like fire. How blind you are, Nastenka!” To add fuel to the fire, they considered this a romantic novella. The reason why it is important to read books yourself rather than relying on social media. No matter how advanced we are getting in time, there must be a few practices untouched by the tinge of modernism. Books are to be found by us individually according to our taste and choices. Like all, we do not have to stand in a single queue to impress the lot.