Why read? Why write?

Many great ideas and conversations yesterday at buffalo English department reunion. I have long been thinking about why we read and have settled on basic need to have consciousness of the consciousness of others. Imagine a world with monetarily and by extension w no films or tv either and all we would know of were those we know from our own experience and contact - family friends neighbors. There would not be a human universe so to speak. Which is why we began w tales a myths later scriptural writings. Discussion about how lit helps us as people learning from the experiences of others. But I'm not sure it's meant to make us better people it's meant to make us people we read and we write to comprehend others who live or have lived and to articulate our own experiences thoughts emotions and dreams. One smart comment among Many was that reading comprehension is fine you got it you understand it buy unless you can communicate that comprehension what use is it in fact what value or validity does it have? How do you know you comprehend? I spoke on the 4 and only 4 things on which writers draw: experience learning emotion imagination. I should write a handbook on that ... Someday

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