Jason's Bookshelf - Tumblr Posts
Let's build Jason a bookshelf !
Pride and Prejudice - homeboy is an Austen fan canonically, we need at least this one.
Hamlet -do I need to say more? Do I?
Water for the elephants: He won't admit it, but the book reminds him of Dick, and he reads it any time he misses him. It's angsty enough to maintain a front while actually being a romance with a satisfying ending.
The Outsiders: It's not just that the story is relatable and really well written; it's the themes of loyalty, grief and heroism, and the imagery and hopefulness shining through, and it's the way Johnny reminds him of Roy and sometimes, after Roy's death, he will close his eyes and picture the two of them together in an abandoned church, in that quiet space safe from the war raging outside, reading Gone With the Wind while Roy provides uncharitable commentary about the characters' decisions.
Under The Whispering Door (TJ Klune): This one was gifted to him by Tim because "the main character is an asshole ghost, I thought you might relate." Of course, these idiots could talk to eachother about emotions and go to therapy, but why do that when you can bait your brother into reading a story that will help him process a bit of his relationship with his own death and the family? The worst part is, it worked great, and Jason is so upset that it became one of his favourite books. (The part about the stages of grief is scientifically inaccurate, though. He would know.)
A compilation of TS Eliot's works: Maybe it's because I'm a big fan of TS Eliot and Jason, but every time I reread one of his poems, I think about Jason and I'm sad. The Hollow Men, in particular about the fallen soldiers from WWI, hits so hard as a Jason poem, especially when you consider he lived through the explosion but died of smoke inhalation.
Flowers for Algernon: After losing Bizarro, Jason rereads it often, sitting on rooftops, every time the sky is bright enough to see the stars. He reads it out loud, and the words burn his tongue and taste bitter every time every time, but he likes to pretend his friend is listening, and feels a little less alone.
The Oresteia: This one belongs to the list Jason has read many times and should probably read less, because he projects the tragedy onto his real life and it's a bad influence that comforts him in the idea that he was doomed from the start and might as well burn the remains of the bridges with his family. Good luck trying to pry it out of his hands though! He also loves the idea of being seen at his worst, in the midst of all his hopelessness, and being loved anyway, cradled with unwavering devotion.
Frankenstein : He's a huge Mary Shelley fan, both as a person and a writer. As for Hamlet and the Oresteia, he definitely projects maybe a little too much of some of the characters, but hey, not everybody can brag that they relate to the Creature on such a visceral level.
What else would you guys add?
Next fic I write he's quoting this so hard holy shit that's genius
Literature nerd Jason this and that, but no one says that he would become obsessed with the book where the narrator is dead and is reminiscing about his life and whose epigraph is a dedication (of the book) to the worm who first gnawed on the cold flesh of his corpse 💀
@timstolejasonscorpseagain *deep sigh*
I have a lot of thoughts about Jason, philosophy and his development, unfortunately those thoughts are very convoluted and I have yet to reach a conclusion, mostly because I'm not that cultured and have yet to find the time to do all the philosophy reading to solidify my positions or question my doubts, which I why I tend to avoid talking about it until I'm confident I won't say something so baffling in its stupidity it will change someone's stance on a completely unrelated subject of out sheer disdain. With that being said, and thanks to the lovely vulgarisation function of our friend wikipedia, I am now fascinated with the idea of Jason reading Kierkegaard and his stance on the "leap of faith".
Now my starting point position on Jason's character in relation to love and as christic symbolism is detailed in this post down there, but the gist of it is that heroes/antiheroes don't have to be motivated by a moral code but can be motivated by love, and that's what makes Jason my favourite comics character, that his development and motivation are based on love, and that we have a nice parallel between Bruce as The Father, the Law, the Lord with a moral code that cannot yield, VS Jason as The Son, Jesus, an approach to christianity based on love (though of course Jason's lost days/utrh arc is a dark retelling, a "dark jesus" if you will).
Note that the interesting thing about philosophy is that not everybody agrees you should base your behaviour on an unyielding code of conduct, things you mustn't do because they are inherently bad: we have deontology, virtue ethics, utilitarism and other types of consequentialism, but also ethics (as understood by Levinas), agape (as per Amélie Nothomb), a lot of shit I'm not smart enough to understand and probably a lot of other stuff I've never heard about because, again, I haven't done my reading. And I wanna see more superheroes living through these stances, and not just deontology or utilitarianism, and I think Jason's stance on love could lead to a fascinating development in that direction.
Now, taking a deep breath,a chill pill and thinking about Jason as a he is right now, as a character, and whether he would have this or that book on his bookshelf. About Kierkegaard's "leap of faith*, Wikipedia tells us:
People who have actually opened a book written by Kierkegaard know more than on the matter so feel free to correct me on the matter but I would say yes, @timstolejasonscorpseagain , to answer your question I think he would love reading Kierkegaard. I'll also highlight that no, despite the theology and judeo-christian culture in which those theories are soaked, I don't hc Jason as christian, and I think the most important part of the leap of faith in regards to Jason is how it relates to love rather than God. However, we can't ignore that context, and that's one of the biggest limits of my analysis of Jason's philosophy, the fact that I was so deeply soaked in it myself growing up that I'm still widely ignorant of the other options and outlooks. One day I'll make a better, more developed post about the potential of Jason's ethics switching from utilitarism to platonic love aka agape (from Compte-Sponsville but mostly Amélie Nothomb), how fascinating it is that one of Kierkegaard's biggest critic is Levinas because of Levinas' ethics vs "christian love" in relation to Cass vs Jason and the potential of reconciliation between the two that Amelie Nothomb suggests, but for now all you get is this very narrow outline. Hope that at least answers the question, and if anyone has suggestions of authors I can read and look up to narrow that view, feel free to share them if you want!
Literature nerd Jason this and that, but no one says that he would become obsessed with the book where the narrator is dead and is reminiscing about his life and whose epigraph is a dedication (of the book) to the worm who first gnawed on the cold flesh of his corpse 💀
Arguments:
Fuck No: Wuthering Heights romantize violence and toxic, abusive relationship and Jason dislikes abusers and would be deeply infuriated by this book. Just the sheer idea of Heathcliff is enough for him to start grinding his jaw so violently it's fucking up his teeth. (The "I was hurt and mistreated so now I get to hurt everyone around me" mentality he also really hates. It's terrifying. He tries not to think about it too deep.)
Hell yeah : Jason loves the tragedy and enjoys how romantic gothic it is, romantic in the sense of how intense and encompassing the emotions are, how nature echoes the violent tides of the heart... And while he's aware that the relationship isn't healthy, he's fascinated and yearning for that idea of loving someone so achingly and wholy, latching onto them with his nails digging in the skin, and being loved wholeheartedly. "Whatever souls are made of his and mine are the same" he wants it so bad...
Critical eye: Jason recognises that the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is toxic and unhealthy and hates Heathcliff, but he's also taken by the writing style of the author and the violent tragedy of it all. The intertwining between the themes of life and death, and the persistence of love through ghosts, echo deeply in him, and move him in very intense ways he doesn't necessarily understands but enjoys deeply. "You say you love me, haunt me then" his breath catches every time.