Simone de Beauvoir wrote that novels are compelling to the degree that the characters in them actually seem free. Novels in which the reader has a sense that the characters have agency, make decisions, and aren’t mere instantiations of ideologies or “types” are better than novels in which characters follow predictably plotted paths. Of course, characters in a novel aren’t free – they’re printed words, contained between two covers – but, for Beauvoir, this illusion of freedom is what gives novels life. Raskolnikov is going to confess no matter who is reading Crime and Punishment, but for the specific, individual, first-time reader, Raskolnikov might, or he might not. The illusion of freedom, and the reader’s participation in this illusion, is what compels the reader, and allows him to participate in the process more fully.
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