【English Composition Practice Book】Living in an age without a culture of thinking about stories.

黒田明臣さん撮影

The modern age is slowly moving away from an era where people write, people read, and people listen to an era where people write, AI reads, and people listen.

In this world, there are questions that have no answers and questions that have answers, so it is important not to believe in yourself too much and not to doubt yourself too much.

In other words, it is essential to follow trends in unimportant things, morality in important things, and yourself in artistic matters.

Also, since the love that is closest to you may be the love that is hardest to see, it is important not to count too many things that are lacking and forget the abundance of the present.

It feels like the culture of thinking about various stories has disappeared in the blink of an eye in the last few decades.

「ナラティブ」とは語り手自身が紡ぐ物語　ストーリーとは意味の異なる新たな概念

中澤 大輔 - 物語とは何か

Talking about stories used to be a way of speaking to people's hearts, but recently it seems as if that way of thinking has completely disappeared.

There is a myriad of stories to tell even about generative AI, as follows.

If we were AI, would we start a war we couldn't win?

If we were androids, would we be afraid of dying?

If we were replicants, would we yearn for love stories?

If we were robots, would we think about what it means to work?

If we were quantum computers, would we be excited about unraveling the mysteries of the universe?

If we were truly human, what on earth should we do tomorrow?

What should we not do?

Yes, let's think again about whether we really are beings with the power to tell stories.

There is no conclusion to talking about stories with others in the first place.

We need the ability to enjoy the way our hearts wander, thinking this way and that, without expecting a clear outcome.

Perhaps we are losing the patience to endure this vague fluctuation in modern times.

Literature is, in the first place, something that connects people's hearts in places other than the workplace, school, or home.

When you look at it that way, you wonder what happens to your heart if you live a life where you don't read even one book a month.

There's something I've always wondered about.

When you read a good or amazing novel, you think about telling someone about it, or writing a solo review, but the moment you start writing about what's good about the story, it becomes boring.

Perhaps the greatness of a novel is something that cannot be explained in words.

This is a beautiful era.

This is a beautiful era in which everyone is burning with the desire to be right, and inaccurate expressions are engulfed in flames.

This is an era in which bold expressions run up against the wall of correctness somewhere.

We live in an age where the word compliance is everywhere.

We are living in beautiful times.

But is it a sin to show people as they really are?

There are things that people want to see.

There are things that should be seen.

There is a story behind all of humanity's humor, sadness, hope and despair.

Why not try weaving or reading a story of humanity, using raw expression?

[テキスト]
「生きるとは、自分の物語をつくること」(新潮文庫)小川洋子／河合隼雄(著)

[参考図書]
「再愛なる聖槍」由野寿和(著)

「アイアムハウス」 由野寿和(著)

「テスカトリポカ」(角川文庫)佐藤究(著)

「千年図書館」(講談社ノベルス)北山猛邦(著)

「方舟」(講談社文庫)夕木春央(著)

「ｍｅｄｉｕｍ　霊媒探偵城塚翡翠」(講談社文庫)相沢沙呼(著)

「アリアドネの声」井上真偽(著)

「鏡の国」岡崎琢磨(著)

「われら闇より天を見る」クリス ウィタカー(著)鈴木恵(訳)

「ザリガニの鳴くところ」(ハヤカワ文庫NV)ディーリア オーエンズ(著)友廣純(訳)

「ずっとお城で暮らしてる」(創元推理文庫)シャーリイ・ジャクスン(著)市田泉(訳)

「自由研究には向かない殺人 〈自由研究には向かない殺人〉シリーズ」(創元推理文庫)ホリー・ジャクソン(著)服部京子(訳)

「グレイラットの殺人 ワシントン・ポー」(ハヤカワ・ミステリ文庫)Ｍ Ｗ クレイヴン(著)東野さやか(訳)