Tuesday

Letters to Children

Fiction is not a waste of time and it's not an escape from reality. Good fiction serves many useful purposes, such as instilling a sense of how to tell a story and how to write. But I am mostly interested in good fiction because it activates what Edmund Burke called the “moral imagination.” The moral imagination is the mental ability to see the potential greatness that can emerge from our human condition–as well as the potential evil that can emerge from it.

By reading good works of fiction, especially at an early age, you will instill a good moral imagination that will automatically spring to your intellectual assistance throughout life. It's a fine thing to acquire and one that you cultivate effortlessly by merely spending your ample free time as a youngster lounging on a couch and reading these enjoyable books.

Please also note: Movies are no substitutes for good fiction books. I don't oppose movies, but books are far more effective tools for cultivating the moral imagination because the put your mind and heart at work, instead of allowing a movie director to do most of the work for you (I use “work” in a loose sense–reading fine books should never be work).