Why Bibliotherapy and Other Forms of Art-Matching Are a Natural Evolution of the Advice Column

The humble advice column has been one of few features of media that continues to stand the test of time. From the first columns in the 1600s that fielded questions we’d now google to Slate’s own Dear Prudence, the endurance of these columns reveals a fundamental feature of humanity: We all want a stranger to fix our problems. A recent New Yorker piece on the newest iteration of advice columns—those that prescribe literature rather than the straightforward counsel we’re accustomed to—indicate that the draw of these forums for many of us may not be no-nonsense advice, but rather comforting congruity. Katy Waldman notes that “a field of advice columns that lob texts at people’s troubles has flowered recently,” popping up in publications like the New York Times, Lit Hub, and the Paris Review Daily.

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