While interviewing Susan Sontag for “The Paris Review” in 1995, Edward Hirsch asked the writer and activist whether it was old-fashioned to think that the purpose of literature is to educate us about life. Sontag unequivocally confirmed that novels enlighten us. She went on to say, “[Novels enlarge] your sense of human possibility, of what human nature is, of what happens in the world.” When we read a story, we experience, on an intellectual and emotional level, the successes and failures of the characters — and we learn empathy and understanding from their stories.