Life Is Elsewhere

Garth Greenwell is correct to question the concept of “relevance” as it is commonly applied to art [“Making Meaning,” Essay, November]. His arguments make me wonder about my long-held instinct to seek out “irrelevant” literature. I used to think it was a question of escapism, of wanting to avoid the intrusion of reality into the sphere of the imagination, but I don’t think that’s it entirely.

I recoil from transparent appeals to relevance in my reading—in recent years, this has often included journalism and fiction forced by the marketplace to maneuver itself into…