Literature, Intimacy & Connection

Literature affords us, familiar friends, through the silent passage of words — it forges our connection with fictional and real-life characters recreating the experience of an authentic friendship — with friends who are almost more perfect than the ones in real life. Partly this is owed to the fact that we see the character as they are — there’s a level of intimacy experienced that often feels grander than that with a close family member or friend due to the open and transparent nature of the narrative and the fact that we have uninterrupted access into the mind and emotions of the characters.