we see ourselves in characters of mythology and fiction. Sometimes we see our own vices and resolve not to play out that character trajectory. In other cases, the allure of a character’s heroism or sacrifice or compassion becomes an aspiration: “I want to be like that,” we say in our hearts, and live a life that steals from the character’s script. Books, as the arks of such stories, are not just technologies for information transfer; they become incubators of life, enshrining icons of who we want to be.
