What can someone learn, if anything, by reading or writing fiction? If people can gain new knowledge by imagining, of what does that knowledge consist, and how can we characterize it? This reflection on SLSA creative writing sessions approaches these questions by considering the kinds of discussions that can emerge when writers read their work to literary scholars, scientists, and artists. To show how writers differ in their appeals to diverse readers’ sensory imaginations, the essay refers to stories by Jorge Luis Borges, Junot Díaz, and Lauren Groff. The author argues that if artists and scholars can approach each other’s work as alternate but legitimate knowledge-building processes, we may be better equipped to meet the many twenty-first-century challenges we face.

通过阅读或写小说，人们可以学到什么（如果有的话）？如果人们可以通过想象获得新的知识，那么这些知识由什么组成，我们如何表征它？对 SLSA 创意写作会议的反思通过考虑作家向文学学者、科学家和艺术家朗读作品时可能出现的各种讨论来解决这些问题。为了展示作家对不同读者感官想象力的吸引力有何不同，本文引用了豪尔赫·路易斯·博尔赫斯、朱诺·迪亚兹和劳伦·格罗夫的故事。作者认为，如果艺术家和学者能够将彼此的作品视为替代但合法的知识构建过程，我们可能会更有能力应对我们面临的许多二十一世纪的挑战。