Is Escape through Literature a Good Thing?

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Emily Fellows

We live in a culture that is both efficiency-driven and entertainment-driven. On the one hand, reading fiction can be seen as a waste of time with no quantitative benefits; on the other hand, reading fiction can become just another way to indulge our emotions and get a dopamine fix. It is with this milieu in mind that we ask the question, is there any value in escape through fiction?

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