It is undisputed that we are born in a certain time and space. We cannot change these circumstances: we live in a certain family that speaks a certain language, we look the way we look, we have a certain skin color and a certain age at a certain time. Many things are already predetermined at birth, without us being able to make a choice: name, gender, nationality, nation, etc. – And literature plays an eminent role with regard to these predeterminations. For an author can free himself from his predeterminations through literature. The author can be a person who is different from himself, he can change everything: his name, his sex, his ancestry, his race, his profession, his nationality, his language, his family, his friends, his present, his education, his emotional life, his affections, his destiny, his intelligence, his everyday life, his future, his past, his world, his fellow human beings, his planet, his childhood, his state, his appearance, his social status, his fortune, etc. So, literature offers great intellectual capital. 

But what exactly is the capital of literature writing?

Two examples:
For an author, creating the simple-mindedness of a possible novel character means putting himself in a different way of thinking and behaving. In order to make the character more plastic, the author should not approach the character with condescension, cynicism or judgment, but with respect and a willingness to understand. This changes the author himself, because he can no longer encounter these human characteristics in the same way as before. A beautiful quote from the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald fits here perfectly: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” Very fitting for an aspiring author.

Or prejudices about another culture can best be overcome by the author himself if he writes about a character who comes from a different culture. That’s why traveling is important for authors. And all kinds of activities and jobs associated with it. It is no coincidence that many authors are also journalists and travelers. The most famous examples are Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain, who have left us wonderful works characterized by humanity, altruism and love. So – captured in time and space means for an author to embark on the uncertain freedom of being.