In this world of synthesis and absorption, we feel confident that we are just as likely to find newness as when our ancestors lived in the world of undoubted — or less doubted — individualism.
This is where sequels and prequels fit in. Not only because their very nature amounts to an admission of dependency — sometimes for good and sometimes for ill. But also because they can make claim to being a port in a storm. As readership drives itself half crazy with sampling, hypertexting and interacting, sequels say to the reader: here is continuity. Here is stability. Here is something you know — taken on a step, sure. Adapted as it’s adopted. But at a certain fundamental level, familiar.
Andrew Motion, “To Be Continued, The Art of the Sequel”
