How Literature Can Change Your Life | Joseph Luzzi | TEDxAlbany
Summary
TLDRIn this heartfelt talk, the speaker shares his personal journey of loss and healing through literature. Growing up in an immigrant family with a rich storytelling culture, he found solace and wisdom in Dante's Divine Comedy after his wife's tragic accident. He explores the transformative power of great writing, highlighting literature's ability to transport us to alternate worlds, reveal truths, forge universal connections, and the importance of stories in our lives. He concludes with the 'Rule of Four' for integrating literature into daily life, emphasizing its role in rebuilding and connecting us.
Takeaways
- 📚 The speaker grew up in an immigrant family with little formal education but a rich storytelling culture.
- 🏆 The speaker's career choice was influenced by a love for stories and Italian culture, leading him to become a professor of literature and Italian Studies.
- 🚨 A personal tragedy in 2007, the loss of his wife and unborn child, prompted a deep reflection on the role of literature in his life.
- 🎭 Literature provides alternate worlds and allows readers to travel through time and space, offering experiences beyond one's own life.
- 🌐 Great literature can turn fiction into a form of truth, showing us the universal aspects of human experience and emotions.
- 🔍 Literature connects us to the past, allowing us to understand and empathize with people from different eras, like St. Augustine's confessions.
- 📖 Reading is a ritual that can profoundly impact our lives, as each reader brings a book to life through their interpretation.
- 📖 The power of stories is fundamental to human nature, as seen in how narratives can break down societal prejudices and unite people.
- 📚 The speaker suggests the 'Rule of Four' for integrating literature into one's life: read a favorite book, contemporary works, nonfiction, and a classic.
- 👨👧 The speaker shares a personal story of bonding with his daughter through reading, highlighting the healing and unifying power of literature.
- 🌟 Literature has the ability to change lives, offering insights, comfort, and a sense of connection during difficult times.
Q & A
What was the speaker's cultural background and how did it influence his early life?
-The speaker comes from an Italian immigrant family with limited formal education. His upbringing was devoid of many books, but rich in storytelling, which influenced his love for narratives and eventually led him to become a professor of literature and Italian Studies.
How did the speaker's family react to his academic pursuits?
-The speaker's family, despite their lack of formal education, were supportive but did not fully understand the significance of his achievements. His mother, for instance, was not particularly impressed when he became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
What significant event occurred in the speaker's life that prompted a deep reflection on literature?
-The speaker's wife, Katherine, had a fatal car accident while eight and a half months pregnant. Their child was delivered but Katherine did not survive. This tragic event led the speaker to find solace and meaning in literature, particularly in Dante's Divine Comedy.
How did Dante's Divine Comedy help the speaker during his time of grief?
-The speaker found resonance with Dante's experiences of exile and suffering. Dante's work taught him that it's not what lands you in the 'dark wood' of despair that defines you, but what you do to get out of it.
What is the 'Rule of Four' the speaker suggests for incorporating literature into one's life?
-The 'Rule of Four' involves reading four different types of books: one's favorite genre, contemporary writers, nonfiction, and a classic. Reading for 45 minutes a day, four days a week, can enrich one's life with the 'greatest glories of reading'.
What role did storytelling play in the speaker's family and personal life?
-Storytelling was a significant part of the speaker's family culture, with stories about his grandparents and parents' struggles. These narratives influenced his career choice and later helped him cope with personal tragedy.
How does the speaker describe the power of literature in creating alternate worlds?
-The speaker describes literature as a passport to alternate worlds, allowing readers to travel through time and space, and experience different cultures and historical periods, as exemplified by his own experiences reading about Renaissance France.
What is the significance of the painting 'The School of Athens' in the speaker's discussion about literature?
-The painting represents the philosophical debate between Plato and Aristotle on the nature of truth. The speaker uses it to illustrate how literature, like Aristotle's philosophy, is grounded in the earthly and particular, leading to a deeper understanding of truth.
How does the speaker define the 'universal connections' that literature provides?
-The speaker defines 'universal connections' as the ability of literature to transcend time and culture, connecting readers to the shared human experiences and emotions, regardless of when or where they lived, as seen in the enduring relevance of St. Augustine's 'Confessions'.
What is the importance of reading as a ritual according to the speaker?
-Reading as a ritual is important because it creates a profound personal experience where the reader actively engages with the text, bringing it to life and potentially experiencing a transformative effect on their life.
How does the speaker connect the power of stories to the human condition?
-The speaker connects the power of stories to the human condition by highlighting our innate ability to tell and connect through narratives, which is a defining characteristic of our species and has played a crucial role in our social and cultural development.
Outlines
📚 The Power of Literature and Personal Journey
The speaker begins by expressing gratitude for the opportunity to speak and humorously acknowledges his Italian heritage. He shares a personal anecdote about his family's lack of formal education and their storytelling culture, which influenced his career choice as a professor of literature and Italian Studies. The narrative takes a poignant turn when he recounts the tragic accident that led to the loss of his wife and the birth of his child, setting the stage for a profound exploration of how literature can impact and change one's life.
🌳 Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide Through Darkness
The speaker delves into his experience with Dante's 'Divine Comedy,' a work he had studied for years but found new meaning in after his personal tragedy. He describes how the poem resonated with him during his time of grief, particularly Dante's depiction of exile and finding oneself in a 'dark wood.' The speaker reflects on the idea that it's not the hardships that define us, but how we overcome them. He also contemplates the transformative power of literature and how it can help one rebuild a new life after loss.
🎭 Literature as a Portal to Alternate Worlds
The speaker discusses the concept of literature as a means to explore alternate worlds and times, using 'The Great Gatsby' as an example. He shares his own experience of growing up in a family that couldn't afford travel, but through books, he was able to visit different places and eras. The speaker emphasizes the power of literature to connect us with the past and to provide a deeper understanding of historical contexts, cultures, and human experiences.
📖 The Intersection of Fiction and Truth
Here, the speaker explores the relationship between literature and truth, drawing on philosophical perspectives and examples from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.' He argues that literature, while imaginative and fictional, can lead us to deeper truths about human nature and society. The speaker also highlights how literature can challenge us to question and interpret the world around us, distinguishing it from the manipulative nature of 'fake news.'
🌐 Universal Connections Through Literature
The speaker discusses the universality of human experience as portrayed in literature, using Botticelli's painting of St. Augustine and the latter's 'Confessions' as examples. He emphasizes the timeless relevance of certain themes and experiences, such as addiction and ambition, that transcend cultural and historical boundaries. The speaker also shares how literature provided him with a sense of connection and understanding after his wife's death.
📚 Ritual of Reading and the Power of Stories
In the final paragraph, the speaker reflects on the ritual of reading as a transformative experience, using Machiavelli's exile and his own experience of reading with his daughter as examples. He speaks to the power of stories to unite people and break down prejudices, as illustrated by Shakespeare's 'Othello.' The speaker concludes with a personal account of how reading with his daughter helped them rebuild their family and emphasizes the importance of incorporating literature into our lives.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Immigrant
💡Storytelling
💡Divine Comedy
💡Exile
💡Alternate Worlds
💡Truth in Fiction
💡Multiculturalism
💡Ritual
💡Narrative
💡Rule of Four
💡Rebuilding Life
Highlights
The speaker shares his background as an Italian immigrant who grew up in a house with no books, emphasizing the unexpectedness of his career as a literature professor.
The speaker recounts how his mother's discouragement of reading due to the belief it caused headaches, contrasts with his eventual academic success.
He explains that despite his family's lack of formal education, the rich storytelling culture he was raised in naturally led him to a career in literature and Italian Studies.
A personal tragedy changed the speaker's life: his wife had a fatal car accident while eight and a half months pregnant, leading to an emergency cesarean to save their child.
The speaker found solace in Dante's Divine Comedy after his wife's death, seeing it in a new light and connecting with Dante's experiences of exile and suffering.
The speaker emphasizes that it’s not what lands you in the dark wood of life that defines you, but how you get out of it.
He discusses how Dante's Divine Comedy helped him realize that one cannot reclaim a past life but must rebuild a new one.
The speaker poses the question of why great literature, like Dante’s work, has the power to change lives and what makes it enduringly relevant.
Literature, the speaker argues, serves as a passport to alternate worlds, allowing readers to experience different times and places through imagination.
He highlights how literature can reveal universal truths through imaginative storytelling, unlike history, which only records specific events.
The speaker underscores the importance of universal connections in literature, citing St. Augustine's Confessions as an example of a 1600-year-old work that still resonates with modern readers.
Reading, according to the speaker, is a ritual that brings books to life, requiring the active participation of the reader.
The speaker describes humans as a storytelling species, noting the power of narratives in building connections and understanding across different cultures and times.
He offers a practical reading strategy called the 'Rule of Four,' encouraging readers to engage with four types of books regularly: favorites, contemporary works, nonfiction, and classics.
The speaker closes with a personal anecdote about how reading the Harry Potter series with his daughter helped them bond and rebuild their family after his wife’s death.
Transcripts
thank you very much it's an honor and a
really a thrill to be here and thank you
Scott for that kind introduction and
correct pronunciation of my name I'm
very impressed as an Italian are there
any other Italians in here great the
rest of you can leave no no you can stay
you know speaking of Italian I'm
reminded as I give this talk in some
ways I'm it's kind of strange that
someone like me should give this talk
because I actually grew up in a house
with no books my family were immigrants
very smart hardworking people Italian
immigrants and yet you know they didn't
really have education that a grade
school education and so whenever I would
be sitting reading you know my mom would
come up behind me and saying her
Calabria and dialect jewsí that's a
celebrity Vimala la testa Jill put that
book down it's gonna give you a headache
so reading in my house you know brought
on migraines that was the theory I
listened to my parents and almost
everything except really for that with a
great thing about my family you know
they kept you humble I'm one of six kids
and when I got my first job after
graduate school I said to my mom you
know I got a teaching job I was a
visiting professor at Penn the
University of Pennsylvania and I said
mom you know finally I got a job a
university Tudela Pennsylvania I even
said it in Italian it was founded by
Benjamin Oh Franklin founded by Ben
Franklin I said you know it's IKEA do
you know who Ben Franklin is ma and she
said that's the meter philia know Tony
me know Keiko so up it Colette
she owned a leave me alone my son I
don't even know what I had for breakfast
this morning
that's how impressed she was that I
taught it and Franklin's universe
but you know yeah so it seemed very
natural in an organic in a way for me to
become a professor because I they they
didn't have a great you know there
wasn't a lot of books in our house but
there are a lot of stories I grew up
with a storytelling culture maybe many
of you have as well you know these great
stories about my my grandfather on my
mom's side who had come to America as a
gravedigger served in World War one and
enabled my mom to get citizenship and
she came alone to the United States
without the family without her four
children in Italy and established the
family in my dad who had worked two jobs
getting up at you know 3:30 in the
morning working 16-hour days these were
the stories I grew up with and so when
it came time to choose a career it
seemed real inorganic to pick something
that combined both stories and my love
for Italy and love for their culture so
I became a professor of literature and
also Italian Studies so I never really
questioned the path that made so much
sense and then something happened
exactly really 12 years ago in November
2007 that changed everything changed
everything for me personally but made me
ask this question about literature how
it can change your life you know what
what's the impact is and so I went to
teach a class at Bard College where I'm
a professor and the morning started out
like anything any other you know any
other class day and I walked into a
10:00 a.m. class I was joking with my
students and I saw a security guard at
the door and my immediate thought was
I've done nothing wrong
so I'm joking you know I said look
they're coming to arrest me and I'm
laughing and I noticed that the security
guard wasn't laughing and he said are
you Joseph Lutze and I said yes and I
knew in an instant something terrible
had happened so I raced out of the
building past the Vice you know vice
president of the college running up the
stairs to get me a van was waiting and I
heard the words which would change my
life Joe your wife's had a terrible
accident and my wife Katherine at the
time
had just had a fatal car accident and so
I had left the house that morning at
8:30 by noon I was a widower but also
something else
Catherine was eight and a half months
pregnant and she delivered the child
emergency cesarean and the baby was
healthy and made it 45 minutes before
she died so in one morning everything
changed and this is this talks not about
me it's not about you know this great
tragedy that I went through in the road
to recovery but something happened that
was really unexpected as part of the
road back I turn to something that had
really been part of my professional life
I turned to a book that I had spent
years studying Dante's Divine Comedy
Dante wrote 700 years ago
couldn't be more remote right from us
and yet for the first time even after
studying him for decades I heard his
voice the way I never heard before
I heard him describe exile dante spent
the last 20 years of his life in exile
roaming essentially you know the
medieval version of castle surfing from
one castle to then and looking for work
always on the run and I learned from
Dante these words in a dark wood in the
middle of our life's journey I found
myself in a dark wood in a meadow that
come in the nostra Vita Miri throw Viper
on a salvo scooter I felt that I was in
the dark wood
Dante's dark wood this book resonated
with me this universal space of human
suffering and what did Dante teach me I
used to think it was what lands you in
the dark wood is what defines you but in
truth I came to see that it's what you
do to get out of the dark wood that
defines you and I also learned something
else Dante wrote his great work after
his exile the Divine Comedy he was
rumored to have even perhaps
contemplated suicide we don't know we do
know that he was absolutely devastated
by the loss of
his hometown and I felt that I felt the
loss of my own former life and I wanted
my life back
and Dante taught me you can't get it
back you have to rebuild a new one so my
journey with this book became part of my
journey back to the living and it made
me ask a question that I want to ask you
today what is it about literature what
is it about great writing these books
that stand the test of time that can
change our lives why why did someone why
did I turn of all people to a poet who
wrote 700 years before I did and what
can you do in your own lives to make
literature great writing great books a
part of your own everyday life that's
the mystery that I want to explore to
you today and what I'd like to do is as
a almost my scientific I'm not a
scientist but you know I'm a literary
scholar so I want to give you my take as
a scholar as someone who spent his life
studying and reading what it means to be
what these books do I want to tell you
five things that I think of the magic of
these books okay the first one is this
idea of alternate worlds okay
I love f scott Fitzgerald's hair you
know you got to love the part down the
middle that's old 1920s hairstyle but f
scott Fitzgerald who read The Great
Gatsby many of you have it's a you know
I love it it's a it's a classic it's
accessible the story of Jay Gatsby the
bootlegger who's in love with Daisy and
tries to win the girl and eventually by
the end of the book loses his life it's
an extraordinary story why do I bring it
up and this passport to alternate worlds
that I think great literature gives us
because I want to tell you I grew up in
a working-class family an immigrant
family we couldn't travel we didn't have
money but my town had a library and in
books you can go anywhere I remember
reading about Renaissance France by this
French author Rob Lai I couldn't travel
to the real France but through this
writer I could go to France and I could
go back in time
literature brings you all throughout the
universe
and it connects you to worlds that
happen even before you when I think of
great got the Great Gatsby
I think of scenes like these parties
that Jay would throw at West Egg I'm
sorry in the in the you know in East Egg
in the the West Egg area where he would
have these mansions and he had gotten
everything in life materially he could
ever hope for
and yet the way that shell describes it
he says girls were putting there sure
women were putting their heads on men's
shoulders in a puppyish way you know but
no singing quartet formed around Gatsby
when I read passages like that I'm back
in America of the 1920s I'm in this
alternate world I'm in a world more
importantly of Jay Gatsby the man who
got everything he wanted materially and
as a friend once said to me don't wish
for something too much you just might
get it right he got it and he realized
his American dream wasn't what it was
caught up to be as I tell my students
literature's like this fossil of people
who lived in a different time you know
like a father an imprint of a fern in
Iraq literature gives you the way people
thought and felt a history book can tell
you about the 20s in America but can it
recreate the atmosphere like the Great
Gatsby do you see what I mean this idea
of creating an alternate world that
literature can do which leads to money
number two right if literature can
create alternate worlds right it can
also bring us into the area where
fiction almost becomes fact or truth
this is a painting by another nice
Italian boy like Dante Raphael the
school of athens right and you see Plato
the great philosopher pointing up into
the heavens
Plato saying truth is up in the heavens
there is everything we see in real life
is a simulacra beauty justice humans can
never know that we're too imperfect we
live in the land of the cave the shadows
on the wall we have to use philosophy to
try and arrive at some sort of notion of
extraterrestrial truth but on his right
I'm sorry on his
you see Aristotle pointing down to earth
the Greek philosopher saying no Plato we
only know what we see on earth I think
that Aristotle is a patron saint of
literature because literature tells us
what we see on earth describes it it
knows we're imperfect we don't have
access to perfect truths so Aristotle
wrote history tells us what happened it
gives us the specific the contingent the
one-off event literature poetry epic
gives us the universal it gives us the
code of the should of what you know that
it extrapolates you in the particular
inch of the universal so think as I tell
my students literature is the opposite
of fake news fake news pretends it's
true and tries to manipulate you into
believing it literature is imaginative
tells you that it is and then leads you
to the truth in this way that Aristotle
described think of Hamlet by Shakespeare
then one of his most famous plays you
know Hamlet sees a ghost who's gonna
believe a ghost maybe had too much to
eat the night before maybe it was
indigestion and his dad says Hamlet you
must avenge my death
Hamlet's doesn't he wants proof right
what does he get his proof do you
remember the scene when he has Claudius
stage he has a play performed for
Claudius the mousetrap and the murder of
the King Claudius who had killed
Hamlet's father his uncle Claudius says
his uncle sees the play and runs off the
plays the thing in which I'll catch the
conscience of the king right that's an
imaginative situation that leads to the
truth and that's what literature does
when I read of Dante's exile sure it's
autobiographical but it's a poem who
knows that we if everything happened the
way Dante exactly described it but it
was so real it was so truthful that I
can imagine myself into it in a way it's
the opposite
literature teaches you to ask the right
questions it won't provide all the
answers in books that do provide that
all the answers aren't being honest
because there's some things that there's
no answer to the
no rulebook for getting over the death
of a spouse or raising a child on your
own okay the third thing I want to talk
about is universal connections that come
with literature we live in beautifully
in an age of multiculturalism of we
celebrate ethnic identity and this is
all great I'm a hundred percent behind
this I also think we should think about
the things that connect us as people
what do all people share right this is a
painting by Botticelli of st. Augustine
who lived 16 over 1600 years ago he
wrote the confessions in 398 ad if you
went back to 398 ad that would be like
landing on Mars right you know the
average life expectancy was in the 30s
literacy was so low I think they had
only dial-up internet nah no just
kidding
you're talking about a totally different
world and yet Agustin wrote the memoir
that is still the template for today his
confessions Agustin was addicted to the
life of the flesh you could almost say
he was addicted to sex a little bit
right he was addicted to glory he could
almost say he was a workaholic these are
very familiar patterns right I mean you
know Keith Richards ain't got nothing on
Agustin for his autobiography so this
model for an autobiography you can trace
back 1600 years and it's still relevant
I find that miraculous I'm reminded of
that scene in LA story where Steve
Martin says you know see that building
over there it's over almost you know
it's over 20 years old Wow
this book is 1600 years old and it still
makes sense
it speaks to something that's universal
in us after the death of my wife I
needed to know that I wasn't alone other
people had been through it and I found
that universal connection the fourth
thing I think is reading as a ritual
this is Machiavelli a not so nice
Italian boy right you know he wrote the
prince he wrote this book about
political brinksmanship and gamesmanship
sure we know that but he also loved
literature and when he was exiled from
Florence he would describe reading like
four hours a day getting he says I put
on my best clothes and I go into a study
where I'm lovingly received
by ancient men in there it's that
product ritual of reading something
happens when we read if I gave you a
book right now some of you are carrying
them it's just symbolic notations on a
page you I always tell my students
you're the co-author you bring the book
to life each writer needs a reader
reading is that ritual with something
profound happens where it can literally
change your life and the last thing I'll
say is the power of stories what is it
about stories you've all Harare in his
book sapiens which some of you may have
read says that that's really what
distinguishes us from a lot of other
creatures our ability to tell stories to
bring people together through narrative
the power of narrative where we are a
storytelling species I think it's just
as important as the opposable thumb it's
what's made us what we are think of
Shakespeare the story of Othello the
famous story of Othello he's an outsider
in Venetian society he's you know
considered old probably in his 40s it
wasn't the new 20 back then right and
he's married the most eligible woman in
Venice Desdemona
right she'd have her own show
Bachelorette right and people are
accusing a fellow of bewitching her and
you know what a fellow says he says her
father oft invited me basically to tell
my life story to hear these things with
Desdemona seriously inclined she felt
compassion for them and I did love her
for it dis Damona falls in love with a
fellow because he's a storyteller and
Shakespeare destroys all the prejudice
surrounding Othello through the power of
story
once you hear someone's story you can
never think of them as a category or a
group you have to see them as a human
being for that reason we need stories
more than ever today in our society our
divided society how can you make these
five riches of literature your own I
think it's easy or practicable I've
created what I call the rule of four
okay and I always think of my father
when I do this cuz my father was not a
reader but boy could he use language he
would say things like you know Madeleine
over to Albany they made a new harm
befall you or you know you know these
crazy poetic
King Lear like curses de beaujeu pas de
la faccia knew gone and made a dog rip
your face off you know he was a real
poet in his own way it's a he wasn't a
reader how do you become readers very
simple my rule of force think of it like
working out or walking or getting good
night's sleep four days a week
45 minutes a day four different books
one your favorite kind of book let it be
romance Harry Potter and whatever
anything gardening whatever your second
category contemporary writers who were
the writers today the fiction writers
changing the conversation
the third group nonfiction doesn't have
to be make-believe to be literature and
the fourth group let one of those
categories be a classic your Wordsworth
your Nietzsche's your Virginia Woolf
your WB Dubois eases that mix of four
will bring you the greatest glories of
reading and it will bring you to what my
favorite writer Dante called that thing
that that connects all readers long
study and great love I want to close
with an image as I raised my daughter
after those years it took it was very
hard I needed a lot of help from my
family after my wife's death what really
brought us together more than anything I
look back as when we started reading
together and I went through all of Harry
Potter with this girl and I felt by the
end in that space of long studying great
love we were becoming a family again
thank you so much
[Applause]
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