“Such rereading [to dwell for a time in a self-contained fictional universe] is not purely a matter of escapism, even though that is one reason for its attraction: we should note that it’s not what readers are escaping from but what they are escaping into that counts most. Most of us do not find fictional worlds appealing because we find our own lives despicable, though censorious people often make that assumption. [W. H.] Auden once wrote that ‘there must always be… escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep.’ The sleeper does not disdain consciousness.”
— Alan Jacobs, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction
