Finished Letters to a Young Contrarian

Letters To A Young Contrarian had the authors tone but was different from the previous book of his I read. This book was based on Rilke's Letters To A Young Poet and Hitchens own letters to his students (he works as a professor on writing and literature etc). Part of his style is of quoting and refering to other people and works aiding him to explain his points, to some it may be burdensome and an acquired taste, but I find it enriching though it some it does make one feel I must read more.

For literature and general society one part letter which deserves analysis was about the necesssity of conflict. Hitchens points out that "in life we make progress by conflict and in mental life argument and disputation." But I would take that further and say without conflict, without working to improve with a little feedback and struggle people generally slide backwards. No conflict, argument or struggle usually means lazy acceptance of a position whatever it may be. In novels for any character to change and develop they need some kind of conflict forcing them to reflect on themselves and maybe adapt. Hitchens other point is about perpetual happiness or paradise, "imagine a state of bliss and perpetual happiness and harmony, and you have summoned a vision of tedium and pointlessness and predictability." We all know this is true on some level. Think of a novel which has no struggle, no excitement, the character is just happy all the time and you can't disagree it would be a very boring novel.