Where I've Been

For my loyal readers who have wondered where I have been for a little over a year now (a single recent post notwithstanding), the fact is that I have been several places.

I am now posting periodically on An Intense World where I discuss autism quite a bit.

I am also now posting long articles on Medium. I've been posting quite a bit on art there of late.

I have had to work a great deal more of late, and that has reduced blog output considerably. Heck,  it has reduced artistic output considerably. There has been an uptick on Medium of late, so that might indicate I'm finding a little inspiration that can be translated into more writing. I certainly hope so.

Does Literature Create Empathy?

More on the role of empathy creation in literature, though the author here is arguing that that is not what literature does. Rather, "representative thinking" is what literature does--giving us more points of view to consider rather than time to walk in another person's shoes. I wonder to what degree the metafictional examples given are specifically designed to undermine empathy--which itself doesn't mean literature doesn't create empathy, but perhaps could be interpreted as an admission that it does, so the authors are trying to undermine that very effect. Something worth thinking through.