Good literature, by which I mean not all literature, but rather all literature that is good and praiseworthy, contains some element of the divine. The work may be mystical in nature, or rather conventionally spiritual, may have metaphysical themes or be concerned with questions of morality or ethics. I have said in the past that all good literature is healing in some way, and authors are merely practitioners of the healing arts.
Any work of literature that exhibits compassion, either on the part of the narrator or the characters for each other, can be said to have a spiritual element; the great religious leaders throughout time have stressed compassion in their words and deeds. Jesus of Nazareth himself is a very vocal proponent of compassion, and demonstrates it abundantly.
When a work is not spiritually based, things become problematic. I don’t think we should in lock step sing from the same hymnal as we compose stories and poetry, but I prefer stories especially, that have the transcendent about them, like, “A Small, Good Thing” by Carver, or “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Goethe. The Russian authors of the 19th C. are also examples, the ones I mentioned in a previous blog. Many parts of Tolstoy’s WAR AND PEACE are transcendent, particularly the scene where Andrei dies in battle. Perhaps one of the most moving and transcendent scenes found in world literature.
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