On ideas too big for words

There are stories and then there are Stories.  You've met them: a book that you initially dislike because it's too big for you and you resent the confusion, frustration, and feeling of inferiority it inspires, but then in later years, after you've grown a bit and been humbled far more, you pick it up again and suddenly you can't put it down.  'That Hideous Strength' and 'The Man Who Was Thursday' are a couple of mine and now I can add 'The Once and Future King' to that list.  Story has always been the vehicle whereby ideas are best conveyed to an often skeptical or hostile audience; they are the common parlance of the human soul, moving beyond borders, cultures, races, languages, and even time itself.  The best of them delve into the very heart of the conundrum of what it means to be human: what is the meaning and purpose of life, what is the best way to live, how ought we to interact with others, what truly matters?  This is what makes a great book: that in its heart it contains an idea too big for words; that it addresses some kernel of truth regarding the human condition that we are forced to mull over from a radically new perspective.

Much of modern literary criticism seems to circle the drain of 'what do I think the author is saying,' wherein we put our thoughts in the author's head and thereby negate all need or use for literature at all.  Why write books or tell stories if they all mean the same thing (or nothing at all) anyway?  If not that, then we discover the most celebrated works of the day are those that pander to the political and social elite of the moment, lauding as brilliance what is unfortunately mere propaganda.  I just saw an article on the evils of reading 'Little House on the Prairie' and its unfortunate and insensitive treatment of issues which have obsessed our culture for the last month or three, certainly an excellent reason to leave off reading what long has been considered a classic.  Who then is safe?  We have seen countless leaders in art, literature, music, politics, sports and acting thrown down because they said, wrote, or did something that is now considered politically incorrect thirty years prior when everyone was doing the exact same thing.

Is that why all the modern movies are sequels, prequels, spin-offs, or remakes?  Nothing is sacred and nothing is safe, save to spew out plotless tales peopled with insipid characters that mean nothing, that is merely 'a sound and a fury.'  Perhaps Shakespeare said it best:

"She should have died hereafter;

There would have been a time for such a word. 

— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing."

~ Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)~

Did he know he was writing about modern literary trends when he penned those immortal words?  Probably not, perhaps he was commenting upon such trends found in his own day.  For man has not changed, merely his means of telling stories.  People used to listen to their grandmother tell old tales by the fireside, now we watch movies, but man himself has not changed in the least.  Will we embrace the difficult stories, tackle the impossible books, look in the mirror of classic literature or will we take the easy road, worn deep into ruts by countless lazy feet, that leads to nowhere?