Who am I? Everybody. As Whitman said: “I am large, I contain multitudes.” Individuals within that multitude are always flickering on and off within me, stepping forward, then receding. And these individuals resemble the individuals who flicker on and off within you.
This is the idea on which fiction is built.
― George Saunders, “‘Could I understand the people who rushed into the Capitol?’: George Saunders on how stories teach empathy” in The Guardian, October 15, 2022