Why Everyone Should Read Good Fiction
For the last ten years or so (really forever) I have felt very strongly that there is something you see or understand in reading good fiction that you can find no other way. I know some people only read non-fiction. Especially some Christians will read book for "knowledge". This morning it dawned on my as I was re-reading the end of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead what is happening and why it can be explained no other way. Have you ever heard of Michael Polyani or the concept of Tacit Knowledge? His most famous example is the Stradivarius violins. No one can make an instrument like them any more. It is because that kind of knowledge is transferred orally through apprentice training and is so complex and rich that you could never put it all to words, much less write it all down. Another example is farming. Another might be cooking. There are things that Marilynne Robinson explains through her fiction that are true a thousand times and yet, to write them down in such a w