To read fiction means to play a game by which we give sense to the immensity of things that happened, are happening, or will happen in the actual world. By reading narrative, we escape the anxiety that attacks us when we try to say something true about the world. This is the consoling function of narrative - the reason people tell stories, and have told stories from the beginning of time.
Umberto Eco
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A “game” I love, learn from and, yes, find comfort in.
This quote reminds me of how children are often encouraged to use toys and drawings to better express their feelings and understand the world around them. Perhaps reading fiction, and writing it, is just another version of the same process.
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