I
love reading for many reasons. One is that reading is an act of
empathy; through reading we inhabit other skins and see the world
through other eyes. The value of this cannot be underestimated. Our ability to understand each other, and to look beyond our own surroundings in doing so, is one of the core aspects of humanity.
Great art ‘opens the door of our bodies and allows our souls to step out into the
world and make friends.’ (Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of
Being).
Great writing - indeed, great art - changes us
from the inside out, and thus changes the world person by person.
‘Thanks to literature, to the consciousness it shapes, the desires and
longings it inspires…civilisation is now less cruel than when
storytellers began to humanise life with their fables.’ (Mario Vargas
Llosa - Nobel Prize winning lecture).
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