--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think literature can make familiar the…" description: "\"I think literature can make familiar the unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar is very much about the dispossessed, and so the value of literature seems to me..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/876/colum-mccann-902_about_i-think-literature-can-make-familiar-the_2274870.png" --- # I think literature can make familiar the unfamiliar, and… ![“I think literature can make familiar the unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar is very much about the dispossessed, and so the value of literature seems to me to go into the stories that not everybody wants to tell.” quote by Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/876/colum-mccann-902_about_i-think-literature-can-make-familiar-the_2274870.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/876/colum-mccann-902_about_i-think-literature-can-make-familiar-the_2274870.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/876/colum-mccann-902_about_i-think-literature-can-make-familiar-the_2274870.png) > “I think literature can make familiar the unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar is very much about the dispossessed, and so the value of literature seems to me to go into the stories that not everybody wants to tell.” [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Literature reveals hidden perspectives, especially of marginalized voices, giving them a platform. **In simple terms:** Stories give voice to the unheard. Key Takeaway Seek diverse narratives. Themes empathy justice storytelling Mood thoughtful empathetic Type literary social When to use this quote - education - activism - publishing - community building Key Concepts postcolonial theory social critique Questions to Reflect On - Whose stories are still missing from mainstream literature? - How does reading about the dispossessed change your view? A Different Perspective May overlook the need for authentic representation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Value](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/value/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/all-great-literature-is-one-of-two-stories-a-man-goes-on-a-journey-or/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“Two adolescent girls on a hot summer night--hardly the material of great literature, which tends to endow all male experience (that of those twin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-davis/two-adolescent-girls-on-a-hot-summer-night-hardly-the-material-of/) [Kathryn Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-davis/) > [Literature for me… tries to heal the harm done by stories. 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They examine both familiar automatons from throughout history and delight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-brooks/each-of-the-essays-in-this-volume-ranges-widely-across-technical-and/) [Rodney Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-brooks/) > [There is no easy or difficult; only familiar and unfamiliar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-werner/there-is-no-easy-or-difficult-only-familiar-and-unfamiliar/) [Kenny Werner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-werner/) > [I disliked the unfamiliar happiness more than the familiar sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tablo/i-disliked-the-unfamiliar-happiness-more-than-the-familiar-sadness/) [Tablo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tablo/) > [If you want things to change to different things, you must think different thoughts. 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I think literature will be around "forever" - but in a relatively niche…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-antosca/i-don-t-really-think-in-terms-of-the-future-of-literature-i-think/) [Nick Antosca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-antosca/) > [We think literature is immortal, but even that decays and ultimately turns to dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-farren/we-think-literature-is-immortal-but-even-that-decays-and-ultimately/) [Mick Farren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-farren/) ## More by Colum McCann > [Give life long enough and it will solve all your problems, including the one of being alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/give-life-long-enough-and-it-will-solve-all-your-problems-including/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“There is something that happens to the mind in moments of terror. 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