Education Quote by David Foster Wallace
““I had a teacher I liked who used to say good fiction’s job was to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: “Consider the Lobster”, 2004, David Foster Wallace, 2004
Good fiction should soothe those in distress while unsettling those who are comfortable.
In simple terms: Stories comfort the troubled and challenge the complacent.
Key Takeaway
Write to heal and provoke thought.
Themes
literature
empathy
discomfort
social critique
Mood
thought‑provoking
reflective
Type
philosophical
literary
When to use this quote
- novel writing
- therapy groups
- education
- public discourse
Key Concepts
narrative function
ethical responsibility
psychology
Questions to Reflect On
- What stories have comforted you?
- When have you been unsettled by a narrative?
A Different Perspective
Balancing comfort and provocation can alienate readers.
![“Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it'd find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it." [Q&A with Larry McCaffery, Review of Contemporary Fiction , Summer 1993, Vol. 13.2]” quote by David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/636/david-foster-wallace-161_american-psycho_really-good-fiction-could-have-as-dark-a_3043332.jpg)
