The Valuable Role of Reading Fiction

Reading fiction isn’t a distraction and mere entertainment, rather it’s a form of therapy. Literature isn’t about indulging in an isolated and distant story that has no relation to our lives. Rather literature is our own lives.

It’s an accurate representation of human nature that helps us better understand our truest selves. After reading great literature we walk through life a little less confused. Marcel Proust, a famous french novelist of the 20th century puts it this way:

“In reality, every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to the reader to enable him to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have experienced in himself. And the recognition by the reader in his own self of what the book says is the proof of its veracity.”

And in turn, the more literature we read, the better we understand our most intimate, inner selves.

It puts us through the mistakes of others in hopes that we avoid their wrongs in our own lives. By reading novels of other people who’ve messed up, we’re better prepared for failure in our own life. Once it comes, we can deal and handle it more wisely.

Literature isn’t popular because it stands against the dominant power structures within a society. It isn’t about money, status, or commercialization rather it’s about saying the things that aren’t likely to arise in common conversations. Divulging the innermost longings and feelings that may be shunned as popular belief.

Therefore, when you think about literature in the future you should see it as a valuable use of your time, not a way to escape from the real problems that are facing our society today. It’s raising your EQ and helping you act with more ease and intelligence in whatever daily situations you may face.