Novel as Teacher

In their book The Novel Cure, Ella Berthoud & Susan Elderkin take on the daunting task of assigning novels as cures for nearly any diagnoses. They call their book “An A-Z of Literary Remedies”.

It’s a bit tongue in cheek. But I agree with them that for almost any ailment you can image, you will find a protagonist, in some novel, to accompany you in your misery.

When it comes to transformation, unfortunately, pain and suffering are often the catalyst. In the search for meaning within the suffering, novels offer not only company, but illumination and perspective.

Each time I find myself in a space of suffering, real or imagined, and engage my common plaintiff “what am I supposed to learn from this?” I stumble into a novel with a character who is more than happy to serve as my teacher. I see their learning. I enrich my own. And more often than not, my suffering is in some way relieved.

Their ailments are serious and not so serious, deadpan and funny. And for many I had to read the descriptions in the book to understand the recommendation. Here’s a sampling with the respective ailment below each book.