THE CONTRIBUTION OF FICTION LITERATURE TO KNOWING THE EXTREME BEHAVIORS OF MAN
THE CONTRIBUTION OF FICTION LITERATURE TO KNOWING THE EXTREME BEHAVIORS OF MAN

Summary/Abstract: The real, empirical man's soul, is very little known, whether it is simple observations of common sense or complicated psychological theories. Even the individual himself does not know himself entirely by introspection. But there is a way of knowing by which the soul of man is fully known, without rest, and that is the prose of fiction. The author of a novel is omniscient, just as God Himself, in terms of his characters, their soul life and their destiny. And on the other hand, fictional prose is a clearer knowledge of life than other forms of knowledge, for literature is like a marvelous mirror of life. At least for these two reasons, literature is a privileged knowledge of man, especially when it comes to strong moral conflict and extreme behavioral reactions.

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