"A novel is a conversation between the writer and the reader, across time and space."
The only thing I can rely on is my own perception and that is always changing.
"We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome."
The stranger is close to us, insofar as we feel between him and ourselves common features of a national, social, occupational, or generally human, nature. He is far from us, insofar as these common features extend beyond him or us, and connect us only because they connect a great many people.