A J HartleyLast time, I posted about identifying a probing question at the heart of a novel, something not limited to the book’s plot, something which readers could relate to, something which had implications for the real world in which they lived. Some of these questions may be broadly moral (when is it OK to take a life?) or philosophical (which is better, to live in happy delusion or to face up to painful truths?) but I was struck by how many of the questions raised in subsequent comments centered on identity. I had raised this focus in my Harry Potter example, so maybe that stacked the deck a little, but I think that the popularity of such questions speaks to a basic truth about readers; we may have different moral, philosophical (political, religious etc.) viewpoints, but we all think about ourselves as individuals, as people with problems and potential. This [...]
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