But only literature can put you in touch with another human spirit, as a whole, with all its weaknesses and grandeurs, its limitations, its pettinesses, its beliefs; with whatever it finds moving, interesting, exciting, or repugnant. Only literature can grant you access to a spirit from beyond the grave -- a more direct, more complete, deeper access than you'd have in conversation with a friend. Even in our deepest, most lasting friendships, we never speak so openly as when we face a blank page and address an unknown reader. ... [T]o love a book is, above all, to love its author; we wish to meet him again, we wish to spend our days with him.
If I had a normal friendship with The Dude, I'd send this to him because he would totally get it. As it is, it's anything but. Like that hasn't already been established.
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