The great moment of fiction reading is when we perceive, in the individuality of the author and the work, the connection with the universal. It is great because it amplifies the sense of detail and demonstrates that the human drama is a shared drama. By noticing it, we become aware that neither time nor space alter this essential condition of being, responsible for the possibility of understanding between men; by noticing it, we become aware that the smallest thing, no matter how small, contains within itself a perennial and interchangeable significance.