The critical distance that I have to the things that I used to be passionate about when I was younger is very interesting. I was a huge fan of books when I was younger and I loved the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure. My siblings and I had read Harry Potter together and a selection of other series like Deltora Quest or the Series of Unfortunate Events. I used to regard these books as excellent works of writing that I would never grow tired of. My brother and I would write little short stories based upon the characters or events and we would read them to our other siblings. We knew all the details by heart and often referenced them in conversation.
However, as I’ve gotten older, the types of books that I consume and the stories that I’m interested in have changed. I now prefer more mature fiction and stories that deal with events more closely related to the world. The critical distance that I have towards the books that I read when I was younger has made me hyper-aware of the shortcomings of these books that I used to love. I used to think that I would never tire of reading Harry Potter, but now I find that it can barely hold my attention all the way through the book. Some of this has to do with my familiarity with the stories and seeking out new stories and characters, but it also is a result of maturing and realizing that these YA books are not as rewarding to someone who has read a lot of books.
That is really interesting. For me, there is one book series called “The Bartimaeus Trilogy” by Jonathan Stroud that I read in middle school and then reread in high school. Each time gave me a different message and emotion as time had passed and I had grown as a person. I think that becoming too familiar with a material can be problematic, but I also wonder if you just need to come from a different angle when rereading a material. What happens when you Harry Potter from a political standpoint? Is Dumbledore really someone to be reminded or is he an abusive parental figure that exploits the people around him?
I definitely identify with this concept of distance between the literature we loved as youth and what we love now. Some of it, for me at least, was directly caused by wanting to seem ‘cool’ by reading ‘cool’ books. I was that kid who only brought their feminist literature to the dorms, but honestly, during finals week all I wanted to do was read a fantasy novel. It’s such a weird jump and a clear rejection of what is and isn’t acceptable to read.