A novel worth reading is an education of the heart.
Susan Sontag
While interviewing Susan Sontag for "The Paris Review" in 1995, Edward Hirsch asked the writer and activist whether it was old-fashioned to think that the purpose of literature is to educate us about life. Sontag unequivocally confirmed that novels enlighten us. She went on to say, “[Novels enlarge] your sense of human possibility, of what human nature is, of what happens in the world.” When we read a story, we experience, on an intellectual and emotional level, the successes and failures of the characters — and we learn empathy and understanding from their stories.
