Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.

The quotation argues that imaginative writing is not a mirror held up to an already-complete world; it actively enlarges what we can perceive, feel, and understand. By giving language to experience, sharpening moral and emotional perception, and offering vicarious encounters with other minds and situations, literature “adds to reality.” The image of “irrigat[ing] the deserts” suggests modern life can become spiritually or emotionally arid through routine, utilitarian thinking, or isolation; reading rehydrates inner life by restoring wonder, empathy, and meaning. The claim also implies a practical payoff: literature cultivates capacities—attention, judgment, imagination—that daily life both demands and often fails to nourish.