“We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say — and to feel — ”Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought.”

John Steinbeck, from “In Awe of Words,” The Exonian, 75th anniversary edition, Exeter University (1930)