Till Human Voices Wake Us

[poliphilo]

I've been finding recently that when I walk away from a work of fiction- a film or a book- its atmosphere briefly clings to me- so that I find myself having to remind myself that such and such an issue belongs to the characters I've left behind and not to me.  It's not unlike the adjustment one has to make on waking from a vivid dream.  I asked Ailz if she had ever had the same experience and she said, yes, all the time and for as long as she can remember. For me, though,  it's a novelty. 

Comments

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

I sympathize. I once wrote a character who made me feel briefly gay. For men.

As a woman who likes men, I was very puzzled that this felt very different from usual.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

This has to be one of the uses of fiction, I think, that it stretches us beyond our usual boundaries.