Reading and Writing

"When we read a thrilling-but-predictable bestseller, “the text sort of grabs us and takes us on a roller-coaster ride,” “and we all so...

"it is this capacity to make up stories that makes us act morally. When we tell and hear stories about others, we discover an impulse t...

"Middle-class America has been duped. For decades we have been told that the notion of higher education is suspect and bad. Why? Becaus...

"Literature has always been a catalyst through which humans can find humor, adventure, or an escape from their everyday. However, I wou...

"Why the emphasis on literature? By playing with language, plot structure, and images, it challenges us cognitively even as it entertai...

"200 subjects read a five-page fictional short story written specifically for the experiment, designed to elicit compassionate feelings...

"Jane Smiley, in Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel, claims for novels an important role as an engine for change. She writes: “When ...