Defining Moments in Literature

[Deranged Nasat]

This is somewhat off-topic, and perhaps I should have launched it as a Miscellaneous thread, but I reasoned that if we have a "What Are You Reading Now" thread, etc, in Literature, then this should be acceptable. If not, the mods will let me know.

Is there any one moment in literature, whether in Trek or anywhere else, that truly satisfied you or brought a genuine sense of closure or catharsis, of acceptance? Something you're forever grateful you read, and that was written in a place where you might find it? If it's possible for a scene or a line or a piece of literary dialogue to, if you'll forgive the phrase, "change a life", does anyone here have an example?

For me, it was the basement scene in "A Stitch in Time" by Andrew Robinson; specifically, its closing line:

"I bowed to the company, and turned my back on them".

It's a simple line, but the effect it had on me was pronounced. If I were asked to define my personal story in a sentence, that's the one I'd point to. Reading that scene, in that novel, and hitting that line, helped me make what was probably the most important decision of my life (so far). A large part of why ASiT is my favourite piece of fiction, not just my favourite Trek book.

So, does anyone else have a defining literary moment?

 

[Buddy Peabody]

The revelation of the Mule's identity at the end of Foundation and Empire.

In Star Trek? Probably the last few sentences of the second book of the DS9 Millennium trilogy.

 

[JD]

I've never really had a huge life changing moment reading anything, but there are several Trek books that I think are truly amazing, and that really made me a true fan of Trek Lit. For me A Stitch in Time, and Serpents Among the Ruins are truly amazing pieces of literature, and I am honestly sad that their audience is limited due to their being Trek tie-ins.

 

[Christopher]

So, does anyone else have a defining literary moment?

Does reading the dictionary count?

 

[DrBashir]

So, does anyone else have a defining literary moment?

Does reading the dictionary count?

Didn't like it. Not much of a plot.

 

[captcalhoun]

at least it explains every word as it goes along.

 

[DrBashir]

Four or five times....

 

[Lonemagpie]

So, does anyone else have a defining literary moment?

Does reading the dictionary count?

So, the mother's the hero, eh?

 

[Elias Vaughn]

...do comics count as literature?

I can think of a few comic quotes that have affected me pretty profoundly.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. There's a moment when one Jedi says to another - "Ah...it's always so easy to avoid other people's vices, isn't it?" It had a big impact on me because I was just then getting into a philosophical practice and a kind of 'spirituality', but I'd started feeling judgmental of other people as a side effect. That nipped it in the bud, and I quote the book on my facebook page.

 

[Thor Damar]

"But...it was so artistically done."

 

[zarkon]

"But...it was so artistically done."

I was all "noooooooooooooooooooo"

I wanted him to win.

 

[Thor Damar]

Maybe he had a plan B (or should that be C...). Zahn's going to bring him back at some point.

I'm quite the fan of Pellaeon as well (or at least the older version from the Hand of Thrawn Duology).

 

[zarkon]

Yeah, Pellaeon became pretty cool too.

My only worry with Zahn bringing him back is that he'll return to the rather absurd world the other extended universe writers have created in the last ten years.

 

[Thrawn]

"But...it was so artistically done."

I was all "noooooooooooooooooooo"

I wanted him to win.

No kidding. Especially after Hand of Thrawn gave him such good motivation for wanting to win in the first place.

I think the Vong were sufficiently nasty to justify Thrawn's preemptive reaction to them; the EU did that nicely. It's too bad everything since then has been so totally awful.

Yeah, Pellaeon became pretty cool too.

My only worry with Zahn bringing him back is that he'll return to the rather absurd world the other extended universe writers have created in the last ten years.

In a recent Facebook chat, Zahn said he hasn't really considered writing anything that would take place after Legacy of the Force. It sounds like he's still pretty pissed that they killed off Mara without letting him make a case against it.

 

[Corran Horn]

"But...it was so artistically done."

Great one, and a shocker.

In Trek, I remember being surprised at what happened to Duffy.

I also got kinda 'emotional' by the final fate of Ensign Janos.

 

[Thor Damar]

Have to admit that I just read all that whilst listening to the Attack of the clones version of the Imperial March. Wonderful...

Another 'good' Imperial from the EU is Aaron Allston's Warlord Zsinj a rather interesting chap, to say the least.

And for a Heartwarming/tearjerker moment of treklit I nominate the heroically calm and humbling reactions of the Federation to their imminent destruction at the hands of the Borg.

 

[SuperXPS]

Have to admit that I just read all that whilst listening to the Attack of the clones version of the Imperial March. Wonderful...

Another 'good' Imperial from the EU is Aaron Allston's Warlord Zsinj a rather interesting chap, to say the least.

And for a Heartwarming/tearjerker moment of treklit I nominate the heroically calm and humbling reactions of the Federation to their imminent destruction at the hands of the Borg.

I thought there were several moments during the Borg Invasion.

One, when the Enterprise and Aventine return from their scouting mission and find the allied fleet destroyed, and see that thousands of Borg ships have dispersed in a circular pattern so there is not even one front to attack.

Two, when President Bacco hears about this and throws everyone out of her office just so she can be alone and the real weight of her office bares down on her, the fear that she might preside over the extinction of all the races in the federation.

Three, when Seven urges the Starfleet admiralty to evacuate the federation through the passages that its a lost cause, you see them desperately coming up with solutions and you can almost feel her pity for their grasping at straws.

Four, when Bacco tells Fleet Admiral Akaar that Picard has a complete blank cheque to do anything he wants if he thinks it will stop the Borg, its a total turnaround from First Contact when they did not even want him near the Borg, now the President of the Federation thinks he's the only one who can stop them and will pardon anything he does to get the job done.

Five, Owen Paris filled with regret in his final minutes so this senior admiral ignores the borg attack and all he can think about is making amends with his son before he dies.




In the latest Typhon Pact book a HUGE moment for me was Andor leaving the federation, I was also nearly screaming "IDIOTS!" into the book, they were acting as if they'd been abandoned when there were ships fighting to the death to defend them, they really stuck me as ungrateful bas*ards

 

[Therin of Andor]

Ensign Janos frolicking with a troupe of wild Mugatu at the end of "Stone and Anvil" was pretty cool. Especially since the name of planet Neural was from the TOS script (and the "ST Concordance"), never made canonical by appearing onscreen, so it's almost an in-joke for the completists.

And the moment of realization about Maddox's missing android in "Immortal Coil".

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

Kurt Vonnegut's "Sirens of Titan" was the first book that made me cry. This is interesting to note because I was 22 at the time and about to graduate from college having studied creative writing and nothing I'd read had ever managed to ellicit that particular emotional response before. It was a bitter-sweet punch to the heart on the last page.