Key points

People can imagine beyond their own bodies and minds, adopting the perspectives of objects and non-human life.

Well-crafted stories can engage readers even if characters are absent by depicting unseen interactions.

Nobel Prize winner László Krasznahorkai shows how a scene can be riveting even when a character sleeps.

Imagining non-human perspectives while reading can help us rethink our relationship with our environment.

Supposedly, readers immersed in stories have imagined themselves into the minds of characters. But human imagination can reach far beyond human minds and bodies. Psychological studies of reading indicate that although participants care about characters, readers also notice other aspects of the stories they’re reading such as the style and emerging themes

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