Books that changed my mind
An advanced science student and a creative writing lecturer each talk about a key book that gave them a new insight or opened them up to a new way of thinking.
Ethan Butson
He鈥檚 still studying advanced science, but Ethan Butson has runs on the board as a researcher and inventor, including systems for the management of vision impairment and the side effects of radiotherapy. His work has won awards, but his key motivation is always to鈥╤elp people.
The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis (1942)
The Screwtape Letters is one of those books that seems to be so realistic that it should not be considered fiction. It is a series of letters from Screwtape, a 鈥渟enior tempter鈥� to his nephew Wormwood. Wormwood is assigned to a newly edged Christian, known only as 鈥渢he patient鈥�, to tempt the patient away from God, and to deliver him to 鈥淥ur Father Below鈥�... I forgot to mention that both Wormwood and Screwtape are demons.
The letters from Uncle Screwtape, also known by his 鈥╰itle 鈥淗is Abysmal Sublimity Under-Secretary Screwtape鈥�,鈥� are regarding his nephew鈥檚 most recent exploits in the manipulation of the patient鈥檚 mindset. He offers advice on how Wormwood might improve his methods. Screwtape鈥檚 understanding of the human mentality is unerringly accurate, and manages to point out numerous problems that I myself have experienced, as well as divulging the reasons behind their use. As Screwtape says: 鈥淚t is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.鈥� With many such insights, I have used this book as much as a 鈥渟elf-help鈥� guide, as for pleasure, if not more so.
It would seem that Lewis鈥檚 main aim with this book was 鈥╰o expose the human mentality and express the supernatural realm through an analysis of his own internal person. Many of Screwtape鈥檚 responses are quite chilling, and should act as cautionary advice to readers as they contemplate aspects of their own lives.
More importantly, Wormwood鈥檚 continued failures with the patient and the perseverance of the patient himself lead to the patient鈥檚 complete salvation, making him untouchable by any of the characters. This is the peak of attainment within Christianity: the overriding love of God that will overcome all temptations.
Beth Yahp
Beth Yahp isn鈥檛 just a reader, she鈥檚 a writer and a teacher of writing. She鈥檚 currently a lecturer in the University鈥檚 Master of Creative Writing Program, but across 25 years she has published fiction and non-fiction that has been translated into a number of languages, and written a libretto for an APRA award-winning classical composition.
The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
鈥淵ou must not tell anyone what I am about to tell you,鈥� the mother insists 鈥╥n Maxine Hong Kingston鈥檚 The Woman Warrior. In Malaysia, as a 16-year-old avid reader with secret aspirations to become a writer, these words were familiar enough. They echoed widely held beliefs in my family and in our country that speaking about 鈥榮ensitive issues鈥欌�� such as race-based inequalities 鈥� could land you in jail, indefinitely, without a trial.
I first came across these words in a Kuala Lumpur bookshop that I haunted as a schoolgirl in the late 1970s and early 鈥�80s. I鈥檇 never heard of Maxine Hong Kingston, a Chinese-American author, but her 鈥渕emoir of a girlhood amongst ghosts鈥� seemed to match mine so completely that it changed not only my mind but opened up the world 鈥� immediately, irrevocably.聽
This book, with its vengeful ghosts, sword-wielding woman warriors (my childhood dream), and weary fathers and mothers working punishing hours to feed ungrateful children (my childhood reality), reflected a world very different to the one I鈥檇 believed could be鈥╳ritten in English.
It鈥檚 embarrassing now, but back then I didn鈥檛 think heroes and heroines in the English language could look like me or bring to life the stories around me.
In the Woman Warrior鈥檚 world and mine, children translated their parents鈥� 鈥榖roken English鈥� and eavesdropped鈥� on forbidden talk-story sessions. But in Kingston鈥檚 world this forbidden 鈥╰alk could be written, captured courageously and beautifully, on the page. A no-name aunt, erased from the family history, could be given a story.鈥� A writer could 鈥渢ell鈥� and 鈥渘ot tell鈥� simultaneously. In Malaysia, this still seems necessary.
鈥淚 learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes,鈥� the mother explains in The Woman Warrior, and鈥� I understood.
I knew what I had to do.聽