Saturday, August 20, 2011

Why the World Needs Fiction

Today I can say nothing better about writing than what I just read in George Ovitt's essay Fiction and Empathy in Atticus Review.

Why, in this bizarre circus of a world, do we even need fiction? My answer is that it might just be hardwired into us by evolution, to help ensure our species' survival, because, as Ovitt says, it "keeps us from committing the acts of cruelty that come so easily when we keep ourselves at an empathetic distance from others."

I hope you'll read this excellent article, and my thanks go out to George Ovitt and the good folks at Atticus Review!