Two of my favorite books in the last few years are Richard Flanagan’s Question 7 and Benjamín Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World.

Both books blend historicity with invention, elevating uncertainty re: where facts end and truth begins. The construct isn’t new, but I think it’s a meta that is apropos for today’s world.

There are several domains where one can apply this, from the norms of the international system down to an individual’s gender identity.

A cloud of unknowing descends. Societies are becoming unmoored from the anchors that provided certainty in the near past.

Literature that embraces the complexities between fact and fiction opens us to experience. What’s more, it can illuminate the perspective and empathy we will need in the years ahead.