This quote, written by William Nicholson for his screenplay Shadowlands, seems to have struck a cord: it returns 15,800 hits on google. Interestingly, this statement is most often attributed to Shadowlands‘ main character C.S. Lewis.
I’d venture to say that the same statement could be applied to any storytelling medium, be it going to the theatre, watching a film, or blogging.
Yes we do read to know that we are not alone. In fact, there are three
reasons why we read. Each corresponds to a level of storytelling:
1. At the primordial level of style, we employ words because they are
supernatural. Pre-literate humans used prayers and curses to imagine
that they were transcendent. In this way they confronted the anomaly of
Death.
2.