Imagining the absent is the defining human capacity behind story

Evidence

In Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari points out that it is not language itself but the related capacity to imagine what is not immediately present that distinguishes the human species. To imagine what is not immediately present allows us spirituality, nationhood, commerce, and law, and it is of course the essence of story. — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 24

Categorization

• XREF: Directly invokes Harari’s Sapiens, which the reader has already highlighted on imagination as species-defining. — connects to: Nearly every people independently creates culture-hero stories to explain origins — , A Year of World Stories, 15277; Imagination grants access to a place the writer has never visited — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 988; Shifting focalization across protagonists deliberately produces uneven perspective (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Imagined encounters with death generate the deepest life in fiction #exemplifies (0.70) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 103
• Imagination grants access to a place the writer has never visited #exemplifies (0.60) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 988
• Fiction multiplies ambiguity by exploring particulars that suggest general truths #expands (0.60)
• Fictional characters can develop an autonomous emotional reality during creation #exemplifies (0.55) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 177
• Shifting focalization across protagonists deliberately produces uneven perspective #expands (0.50)