10 Comments
Nov 16, 2023·edited Nov 16, 2023Liked by Chris Cordry, LMFT

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu is my all-time favourite short stories book! I'm excited to delve into the other recommendations on your list.

Expand full comment
author

Such an amazing book. Each story creates a little world of its own! I need to read more Ken Liu.

I think you might like This is How You Lose The Time War :)

Expand full comment

Good line! "Perhaps it’s because I’m one of modernity’s discontents."

Expand full comment
author

I have a feeling you are as well, Chris.

Expand full comment

You're spot on, Chris!

Expand full comment
Nov 13, 2023Liked by Chris Cordry, LMFT

This is interestingly timed Chris. I'm always torn between diving in to such classics as you have mentioned and investing in the immediate stories of those people who I want deeper relationships with. I'm currently finding that real-life conversations and the listening to the present experience of others is more of a draw for me than these rich traditional myths. I don't disagree at all with the value contained in them. I think you're right that they stir the foundations of the human psyche to worthwhile reflection. And I agree that this can be true. "I feel that stories that limit themselves to the narrow bandwidth of our present predicament are missing something vital." But I also find great satisfaction and joy in exploring our present predicaments more deeply through conversation until we contact the same primordial and fundamental energies and archetypes that have always existed, that are so well depicted in the classics, but which are also active forces in our present-day lives. I'm interested in the embodied present magic of human bravery, risk, curiosity, and connection. I don't get very far into the classics before I want to walk out the door and start my own real life adventure. How do you balance that hunger for real life engagement and the inspirational call of the classics?

Expand full comment
author

I think it's a both/and situation, not an either/or one. At best, reading classic literature (and SFF) can inspire us to lead bolder, more engaged and creative lives. At the same time, it can provide helpful parallels and metaphors for understanding our day-to-day experience. I'll always remember a case that one of my colleagues brought to group supervision, back in grad school. A pair of orphans had been admitted to a group home situation after being taken out of a neglectful foster home. When they got to the group home, they gobbled up all the candy the group home had sitting out. I immediately thought of Hansel & Gretel at the witch's gingerbread cottage. Aside from a need for glucose and calories, the sweets were a substitute for all the love and attention that those kids were not getting from their home environment. This is why Jungian analysts are required to study myths and fairy tales--not to move away from our everyday human experience and struggles, but to understand and relate to it on a deeper level.

Expand full comment
Nov 15, 2023Liked by Chris Cordry, LMFT

What a fantastic example and story Chris. Thank you for sharing that.

Expand full comment
RemovedNov 30, 2023Liked by Chris Cordry, LMFT
Comment removed
Expand full comment
author

That's exactly it, Pavle! "An exploration of our deepest human experiences and desires." Perhaps some of that is in fact encoded in our DNA--certainly as it's expressed through the structures of our brains. Who are a couple of your favorite sci-fi authors or books?

Expand full comment
RemovedNov 30, 2023Liked by Chris Cordry, LMFT
Comment removed
Expand full comment
author

Awesome! I've been meaning to read The Three-Body Problem for a few years now :)

Expand full comment