• about
    • Awards
  • designer
    • Samples
  • lecturer
  • writer
    • a few novel pages
    • Alternative Beauty
    • Dublin Dating Disasters
    • staycation versus fernweh
    • Curls just want to have fun…
    • Already kissed today?
    • Film Reviews
      • Transformers: Age of Extinction.
      • A Walk Among the Tombstones
      • Before I go to Sleep
      • Begin Again
      • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
      • Earth to Echo
      • Film Reviews 2012
        • Argo
        • Bel Ami, not so seductive…
        • Brave
        • Damsels in Distress
        • Detachment
        • Dr Seuss’ The Lorax
        • Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
        • Frankenweenie
        • Friends with Children
        • Grabbers
        • Jeff who lives at home
        • Joyful Noise
        • Magic Mike
        • Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
        • Skyfall
        • The Amazing Spider-Man
        • The Avengers Assembled
        • The Devil Inside
        • The Lucky One
        • The Raid
        • Think like a Man (Act like a Lady)
      • Film Reviews 2013
        • 2 Guns
        • After Earth
        • Austenland
        • Before Midnight
        • Behind the Candelabra
        • Blue Jasmine
        • Elysium
        • Insidious: Chapter 2
        • Lovelace
        • Mama
        • Man of Steel
        • Monsters University
        • Now You See Me
        • Pain & Gain
        • Playing for Keeps
        • R.I.P.D
        • Rush
        • The Act of Killing
        • The Call
        • The Fifth Estate
        • The Irish Pub
        • The Kings of Summer
        • We’re the Millers
        • What Maisie Knew
        • White House Down
        • World War Z
        • This is 40
        • A Dark Truth
        • Django Unchained
        • Flight
        • Lincoln
        • The Impossible
        • The Paperboy
        • The Sessions
      • Get-On-Up
      • Gone Girl
      • Guardians of the Galaxy: dance and quip their way out of any danger hurdling towards them
      • Serena
      • Sex Tape
      • Sex Tape – a slapstick comedy
      • The Book of Life
      • The Calling
      • The Equalizer
      • The Expendables 3
      • The Maze Runner
      • Think Like a Man Too
      • This is where I leave you – better left unwatched
      • Film Preview 2013

jensinewall

~ writer, designer, creative thinker

jensinewall

Tag Archives: Metamorphoses

surreal smarts

30 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by jensine in art, day to day, memories, thoughts

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

Albert Camus, art, becoming smarter, books, Camus, David Lynch, favorite book, Franz Kafka, hell is other people, James Joyce, Jean Paul Sartre, Kafka, literature, Metamorphoses, microcosm, No Exit, quotes, random, reading, Salvador Dali, Sartre, surreal, surrealism, The Plague, Ulysses

I love to read and I always have a book on my bedside table, handbag or in my hand. Unlike many avid readers I don’t indulge in more than one book at a time and I always finish any story I have started, the one exception is James Joyce’s “Ulysses“. But anyone who has tried or even succeeded at reading this universal masterpiece will, I believe, concede that it is not that easy to get into let alone understand. However it is on my bucket list and one day I will read it from start to finish, like it or not.

I rarely read a book more than once as I have a good memory and  find I get easily bored when I know how the story ends, and since there are more books in the world than I will ever be able to read I think it is a good investment of my time to read as many new books as possible. I average at a book a week but there was a time when every two or three days I would be in the book store, buying fodder for my passion.

I was 18 or 19 when I discovered Albert Camus, Franz Kafka and Jean Paul Sartre and fell in love. I devoured their books and developed a readers-crush on Sartre literally gorged on everything he had written, even got my boyfriend infected. My favorite book of his was and is “No Exit” , a surreal tale about death and the source of the famous and often overused quote “Hell is other people”. But Camus’s “The Plague” was another firm favourite as was Kafka’s “Metamorphoses”. I loved the way these writers and thinkers didn’t stick to the rules of this world and created new ones that applied to the microcosm and universes they imagined, even if they were a little disturbing.

Now, I know that reading is meant to be good for you, helps you practices your imagination, increases your vocabulary and communication skills but I was surprised to recently read that surreal stories could help you become smarter. I stumbled upon an old article from 2009 saying that because our mind wants to understand how things work, tries to find the logic and structure in our environment that reading surreal tales challenges our brains. By forcing the cognitive mechanisms in our brains to search for patterns and try to understand what does not make sense we tap into our creative potential and enhance our learning ability.  But not only reading these surreal tales does this, watching David Lynch films or looking at Salvador Dali’s art can have the same effect.

I am not sure if dipping into the world of surrealism has really made me smarter but I do think that by reading about unexplainable worlds, I look out for the unusual, quirky and a little weird. Finding happiness in those moments that are not the norm and loving those truly wacky experiences.

I believe that Kafka said it best:

Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.

 

Kafka makes you smarter

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,681 other subscribers

Shortlisted for Blog Awards Ireland 2012

Me and my thoughts

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« May    

Quote

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

Past but not forgotten

  • back in Belfast
  • waiting in Dublin
  • a gentle gesture
  • Easter auntie duties
  • sunny Sunday afternoon
  • lost hour
  • Weekly Photo Challenge: It’s easy being green

Reeling through the months

  • May 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (17)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (1)
  • November 2016 (13)
  • October 2016 (30)
  • September 2016 (10)
  • July 2016 (7)
  • June 2016 (18)
  • May 2016 (21)
  • April 2016 (12)
  • March 2016 (25)
  • February 2016 (10)
  • January 2016 (16)
  • December 2015 (13)
  • November 2015 (14)
  • October 2015 (15)
  • September 2015 (19)
  • August 2015 (19)
  • July 2015 (13)
  • June 2015 (17)
  • May 2015 (22)
  • April 2015 (22)
  • March 2015 (20)
  • February 2015 (16)
  • January 2015 (14)
  • November 2014 (12)
  • October 2014 (27)
  • September 2014 (35)
  • August 2014 (25)
  • July 2014 (28)
  • October 2013 (14)
  • September 2013 (22)
  • August 2013 (21)
  • July 2013 (25)
  • June 2013 (23)
  • April 2013 (16)
  • March 2013 (10)
  • February 2013 (22)
  • January 2013 (36)
  • December 2012 (3)
  • November 2012 (13)
  • October 2012 (27)
  • August 2012 (11)
  • July 2012 (33)
  • June 2012 (30)
  • May 2012 (28)
  • April 2012 (35)
  • March 2012 (14)
  • September 2011 (1)

Come and read

All my thoughts

The contents of this blog is copyright © to me Jensine-Bethna Wall and although I am happy for you to post, re-post or reference my thoughts, ramblings and miscellaneous outpourings, to do so you must always make it clear that the content belongs to me and me alone and I have the right to be identified as the author, this is only for non-commercial purposes If the content of this blog is to be published or broadcasted by any for of media for commercial purposes I do maintain the right to be contacted and asked for permission, in some cases even payment. Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording will constitute an infringement of copyright. I grant permission to reproduce for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring, lending is prohibited, otherwise all rights reserved.

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • jensinewall
    • Join 1,246 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • jensinewall
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar