During my tenure at UFV as an undergraduate, I’ve made the wise decision to enroll in a few creative writing courses. One of these was with Dr. John Carroll, Creative Writing: Novel ENGL 311, a course for writing the beginning portion of a manuscript. Unsurprisingly, the burden of textbooks was not lifted from the class, despite it being a creative writing course. No fault to Dr. Carroll, though. What he did assign to us represented the current state of the book market.
Dr. Carroll assigned Colleen Hoover’s Verity (2018), and Sara Gran’s Come Closer (2003). I deign to belabour my personal disdain for these two books; they are an insanely intimate act of construction. We can all recognize that it takes a considerable effort to compose a full-length novel. However, I would feel a bit disingenuous if I didn’t comment on at least the horrible prose. The plots are painfully simple and avoid embracing any nuance, or details beyond the surface level. I follow Martin Scorsese’s ideology about Marvel movies: these novels, much like Marvel movies, are merely symptoms of a broader bread and circuses program to disable higher-level reading comprehension and engagement. Verity and Come Closer do not rely on the reader to think about what they are reading, the only imperative is a consistent focus on the plot. There is no room for interpretation, you are merely watching the ride go along, waiting to get off.
These are not isolated examples. Take a look into your local bookstore and survey what is on the shelves and you will find mass-produced, soulless novels staring back at you. I have no qualms with erotica or smut, but give me something to ruminate on and think about after reading it. I want a book that will have me thinking about its concepts, scenes, or ideas for days after. I want ideas, interpretations to haunt me while I sleep. However, my wants are a tear droplet in a bucketful of rainwater — it does not matter in the larger picture.
As for the small picture, here is what I do know: individual thought and engagement build up a mind that is primed to think about things from multiple angles. We all have the ability to better ourselves and expand our knowledge through reading. I mean, isn’t this why you’re still here, reading, giving me a chance?
I digress. I see Verity and Come Closer as a microcosm of the intellectually vapid proclivity that is ongoing with all of our consumable media. We are being trained to be bystanders and not to absorb worthwhile information. I believe critical thought is dying with thunderous applause. I perceive that books like these, and the slop we consume now are composed of purposefully limiting language. I’m convinced that an essential premise of reducing a person’s ability to engage with higher-level thought is to take away their tools. When one does not have the words to express themselves, they are limited to primal body language. I am haunted by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s quote: “Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it.” When we reduce our complexity by engaging with these low-quality novels and media, we are destroying part of ourselves. We are headlong into an era of human existence that will not prize nor cherish the complexities of language and higher thought.
What I am getting at is the need to defend ourselves from this rampant anti-intellectualism. I know I am preaching to the choir here — I mean you’re reading a university newspaper article in 2026. Marvel movies will be churned out ad nauseum, we cannot stop them. But, we can take conscience and stymie them from disabling critical engagement and thought. Collective action falls upon deaf ears and blind eyes; we must take to reversing the brainrot ourselves. Get stuck solving riddles in James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922), wade through the dense descriptors of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899), and perhaps most challenging of all, figure out just what the heck Hegel was talking about. Go out and read some more, check to see if there is actually anything inside your local library. Nerd out on history documentaries. As long as you apply sincere engagement with enlightening sources, you will be actively fighting against the tide of anti-intellectualism.
This all points me to the following conclusion: you are being subconsciously trained by every algorithm and low-effort piece of content you engage with. Enough is enough. The epistemic basis of our existence, to know and seek knowing, is a tradition we have inherited from the first sentient ancestors of our human race. To cut out this fundamental engagement with the world is to doom ourselves to an oblivion of our own making. Break the training and honour humanity’s tradition of knowing and seeking out more. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is up to us to decide if it is a way out or a train barrelling toward us.
