The Ugly in Literature

This summer, I had a conversation with my grandmother that resonated with me long after august dwindled into fall. She, the likely bequeather of my tea infatuation, also shares another dominate characteristic; literature. Our tastes tend to vary, I migrating towards classics, she happiest with a good mystery, or romance. Yet, this love has sparked many conversations concerning subjects of bookish nature, she, most recently, spearheading a conversation about Beauty. Her argument reproached all literature tarnished by the “ugly” and obscene - books that skirt optimism altogether. Modern-day works, in particular, adhere to this explicit trend, grounded upon curse words, and delving deep into the odious shadows of humanity. To my grandmother's credit, most authors are diehard pessimists- inclined to ignore beauty, which is as much present in life as the ugly. Nevertheless, I disagree. A book is not intended to sugar-coat, or even appease - but record the observations of an author. Truth can be fastidious, submerged deep within our consciousness - unvoiced. Telling a story is a universal medium - yet somehow is deeply personal - and therefore the best way to express meaning.. After all, in the words of Mary Angelou, “the is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Books grant me passage to places I, physically, can never explore first hand - and it is my personal preference these accounts are laid bare, without frills. 108 billion humans have existed so far- on average, we meet 80,000 people in our lifetime (and much less for introverts like me.) These figures - if math has not utterly eluded me again - indicate I will only know 0.00007 per cent of the world’s perspective. That is - If it were not for the miraculous existence of books. Books are like a mass-produced fragment of someone - someone who observed and wanted their observations to echo indefinitely through history. These narratives can be ugly - but refraining from documenting them doesn’t stop the ugliness from occurring. Stephen King stated “The most important things are the hardest to say,” or hear, for that matter. I, for one, do not wish to be ignorant of others pain , or for my hardships to remain unheard. Those who delve into shadows do not necessarily retain a shadowy outlook. On the contrary, ugliness forces us to appreciate beauty - and the darkest of circumstances can occasionally yield the purest of light. Authors, thus, should focus on neither the “good” nor “bad,” but the truth, and, as put by Isabel Allende,

“write what should not be forgotten.”