Final answer:
Professor Rearick suggests that literature can be an honest reflection of human experience even when featuring elements like flying horses and little people with fuzzy feet, as it allows exploration of real emotions and themes.
Step-by-step explanation:
Professor Rearick's assertion in the essay 'Literature ... Now What Do You Suppose?' highlights a fundamental aspect of literary works: the extent to which they can reflect human experience while incorporating fantastical elements. Indeed, literature is not confined to realistic depictions of life; rather, it can provide honest insights into the human condition through imaginary worlds and characters. Flying horses and little people with fuzzy feet, as mentioned in the question, embody this notion. They serve as vehicles to explore themes such as heroism, adventure, and morality, which are deeply rooted in real human experiences and emotions.
Through the creative license of fiction, authors create worlds that, although far removed from reality in their physical attributes, can simulate very real emotional responses and provoke thought about society, ethics, and individual choices. Thus, works of literature can simultaneously be removed from the factual and deeply ingrained in the psychological and emotional truths of human existence. This blurring of boundaries between the real and the imagined allows readers to contemplate and engage with the narrative in a way that pure factual representation may not permit.