I Like Literary Fiction and I Cannot Lie

This semester I read literary fiction for the first time in my life. In August the following idea entered my mind, in September I acknowledged it, and in October I asked others about this idea to see if I was being absurd or dramatic; to see if I was crazy:Is it possible to learn more about life by reading literary fiction than through actual experiences?Let me explain before you go looking to buy me a straight jacket for Hanukkah. We move through life with just one point of view —our own. We can try putting ourselves in others' shoes and seeing the world from their perspective, but that's nothing more than an exercise in building the capacity to empathize. Besides you, only Russian hackers canactually see the world from your perspective, and even that's only if your mobile phone is on your person. (Of course it is.)More than any other activity besides hacking, reading may bring us closest to seeing the world from another's point of view. As Elizabeth Strout writes in her latest novel My Name Is Lucy Barton, fiction "reports on the human condition, to tell us who we are and what we think and what we do."My question tore at me. If the answer is "yes" then what have I missed out on by not reading literary fiction most of my life? And if the answer is "no" then why have I spent my life in such un-fulfillment that I would even ask that question?My writing mentor this semester, GrilledCheese, guided me. GrilledCheese said that reading and writingareactual life experiences, ...
Source: cancerslayerblog - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: life lessons writing/speaking Source Type: blogs