Books instead of antidepressants: KBSU professor on the therapeutic power of literature

Why do «The Catcher in the Rye» and «The Bell Jar» still save teenagers from an existential crisis? How do the tales from «Women Running with the Wolves» help find harmony in relationships? The answers are in the material, which will prove that literature does not just entertain, but programs our lives better than any algorithm. Catch a list of books for the summer from Zukhra Kuchukova, Doctor of Philology, professor at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov.

One wise man said: «They won’t invent a better spoon than a spoon, they won’t invent a better book than a book!» I am for paper editions. But electronic ones also have the right to exist. The main benefit of books is that they already simulate many problematic life situations and, having gone through them in virtual form, you will not get lumps on your forehead in real mode.

As a teacher of foreign literature, I would like to give several recommendations. Young people with a philosophical mindset will like the works of Mark Twain «Three Thousand Years Among the Germs», «School Slide», «Captain Stormfield’s Voyage to Paradise». After these books, you will look at many eternal questions of existence with different eyes.

It will be useful for teenagers to read the novels of O. Wilde «The Picture of Dorian Gray», J. Salinger «The Catcher in the Rye», as well as the novel by Sylvia Plath «The Bell Jar», which critics call «the female analogue» of Salinger’s novel. Here you will understand that you need to think globally and act locally. You will successfully pass the difficulties of the transition period without antidepressants and scandals with your parents.

For those interested in gender, ethno-gender studies, the problem of gender relations, do not pass by the phenomenal, instructional book by Clarissa Estes «Women Who Run with the Wolves». There are 16 fairy tales with interpretations by the author-psychologist. Pay special attention to the fairy tales «Bluebeard», «Moon Bear», «Skeleton Woman», «Red Shoes». Delve into it, listen to the author, find your personal archetype, and you will be happy in life with an ideal partner at the level of «yin and yang».

For those who like books about oriental studies, the relationship between the West and the East, the novellas by R. Kipling «Black Sheep», «Beyond the Line», «The Miracle of Puran Bhagat», «The Life of Mohameddin», «The Rebel Moti Gadge», «Lispet» are priceless.

For futurists, fans of dystopian works, I recommend paying attention to the novel by O. Huxley «Brave New World» and, in fact, its logical continuation — the novel by Nobel laureate Ishiguro Kazuo «Never Let Me Go». This is the case when science fiction has come close to our doors.

Let’s not forget about film versions of literary texts. My favorite film since childhood is «The Red Rooster of Plymouth Rock», created based on the story by Harry Nemchenko. Watch it. You won’t regret it.