3 korrents from this piece
Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.
Our reading
Witnessing suffering, rather than solving it, may be the only way we can truly comprehend it.
Their wordsSeeing suffering, being made to witness it, is not of course a solution to suffering. But perhaps, it's the only comprehension we can really possess.
Our reading
The purpose of novels is to bear witness to the inexplicability of human life, not to solve it.
Their wordsBut novels are about bearing witness to something we fundamentally cannot solve, which is to say the inexplicability and incomprehensibility of human life.
Their wordsIn fact, like many others, I've lately been hyperfixated on the idea that our problems are astonishingly religious in nature.