story telling

for both the days, i read stories from the harvard classics. the first time, i jumped around and tried to get a general 'feel' of the storises - i read 'the story of jullanar of the sea', the story of nur-ed-din' and 'the story of the fisherman'.

it was only after reading the story of the fisherman that i realised that the other two stories were two or more stories in themselves. it didnt upset me though because despite the fact that it meant that i had read more, the first two stories left me feeling more complete, like i had accomplished more.. whereas in order to get the feel of the fisherman story i had to read ahead and see what happened, or atleast see how it unfolded.

i know a lot of people seem to feel disconnected and like they were playing around too much when they didnt follow a chronological order, but i didnt feel that way. it just seemed like i was entering a reading after i had begun but there was still room for me to find a seat and enjoy what was happening.

however, despite the fact that i enjoy the way the stories are told and the language theyre written in, for the first time, it feels like im missing out on something by reading the story. this is the first time (second only to when i was read to as a child) i think that listening to the story would be a much deeper and more fulfilling experience than reading it is.

whilst reading it, i tried listening to it in my head like i do for every other book but it was missing something and that was apparent. while its completely plausible that this is due to the fact that in my head i know the stories are meant to be recited, i doubt that thats the reason for it. maybe its something about the manner in which theyre constructed? im still debating about it.

anyway. for our next class, i decided to read in order just to see if it would impact me in a manner as the it did most people in class and so i read the first four stories, from 'the story of the merchant and the jinny' to 'the story of the third sheykh and the mule' -- reading them was definitely different from reading the fisherman story but not so much as reading the other two. maybe it was because they were more complete in themselves?

both ways, i enjoyed the style and the manner in which the stroy flows.

i wonder if at all we can compare this to persepolis though. the difference in the narration was evident for me, it was something even the movie persepolis doesnt compare to.