Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is life kind or cruel? Yes, Literature answers. Are people good or bad? You bet, says Literature. But unlike other systems of knowing, Literature declines to eradicate one truth in favor of another.

小说是一种产生同情心的机器，把我们从懒惰中拯救出来。生活是善良的还是残酷的?是的,文学的答案。人是好是坏?没错，文学说。但与其他认知系统不同的是，文学拒绝消除一个事实而代之以另一个事实。