I recently read an article referencing some old sociologist (I don't know his name, and yes I know this is like the Galician Syndicalists meme) about how the two inventions that helped bring about Nationalism as a concept were the Printing Press (language standardization, newspapers, etc.) and, more interestingly, the Novel.

The Novel trains people (or, in other words, helps people build the skills) to be able to empathize with and understand people we have never really met.