On the merits of reading fiction

The world we are currently living in does not seem like a pleasant place. The pandemic is wreaking havoc in most of the world's countries, and the incoming crisis is unavoidable. This timeline likes to tease its' inhabitants. As many places are inaccessible to us, and meeting other people can only be accomplished through the cold embrace of a computer screen, we are left on our own in the secluded comfort of our apartment.

I am quite sure that after the first and second lockdown everybody has already watched all of the TV shows or movies they wanted to see. TikTok has become incredibly popular over the period of 2020, as just another means of making time go by faster. Equipped with the same infinite scroll as Instagram, it is yet another way for dwindling our focus. But it is exactly there, where I have come up with the idea for this article.

Many of the channels are devoted to the promotion of literature and poetry. Using various tropes from stories known worldwide, they can evoke a need to read. That promotion leads to an increase in interest in literature overall.

How can fictional stories improve our situation?

I think cognitive dissonance is the answer.

Cognitive dissonance makes our brains less focused on a real-life tragedy. The events unfolding in a familiar setting, yet completely made up, serve as a sort of beta-testing ground for anything.

When marketing campaigns are set up, the managers are usually trying to come up with the desired customer - a set of characteristics of the person who is most likely to buy the product. This is also a work of fiction, as that person does not exist, it is just a bundle of what-ifs and could-bes. And the story for that character has been established by the means of the design called "the journey of the client". This playground for the marketing team is extremely valuable, combining the data from previous launches (the known) and behavioral predictions (the unknown).

Another example of how stories steer our reality is found in the art of storytelling. When we gather around the campfire with our family, we tend to tell stories from the past. Sometimes we are not able to remember all the details, all the little things that made that event special, but we are still trying to convey meaning. We are unconsciously filling up the gaps of the story to underline the most memorable events. If the speaker is a keen observer, he will also bend the rules of his story to serve his listeners. They know him, but that even he just described might be the unknown they were looking for. It is a custom fit story, so they can forget reality just for a moment.

The third and final point is connected to the fact that all history is a sort of fictional work because to relate every event that happened would be impossible. How often do we hear the phrase history is written by the victors? It is based on one view of an event and the older the event, the harder it is to prove. Just as the case with our family's storyteller, the story in history books could underline certain events. The stories of victories sure are inspiring, but how many of them were as glorious as it is presented in the textbooks? I am always rooting for the unknown soldier who might have just turned the world around.

Those three points might seem depressing, and filled with a lack of truth. But the fact that those stories are untrue is their most endearing fact. We can be fooled by the things out of the world, by the events that are unfolding in an unknown to us fashion. The marketing team, the uncle on that family gathering, and historians from well-off countries all create stories to convey a meaning, to sell some information. We get lost in narratives because it takes the edge off existing, and gives us hope for a better future.