power of writing

Why is it that the written word is so powerful? Can you count how many times you have been brought to tears in reading a novel- and somewhat more so than movies or television. Not that those formats aren’t also moving, and it is amazing to see someone portraying emotion. But simple words on a page, no pictures, no visual cues aside from your own memories or imagination of the thing being described is amazing. That we can reach out and touch one another through the page. I was reading a novel about someone who was traveling after a divorce and a failed love affair. She finally admits to herself that the love affair will never work, so she breaks it off with the individual over email. She describes her heartache and her sobbing as well as the reaction she received from her new acquaintances abroad. It was so moving, and there is nothing to it but words on a page. Powerful.