will to appear

I'm nearly finished reading The Vivisector by Patrick White. I really noticed, as I got further into the book, how at times, reading it stopped being an effort and became a kind of experience. It was so compelling and vivid that I wasn't aware of it as a text, and instead I just wanted to see what happened. 

It's like with art how I forget what my hands actually do to create and it's as if I'm just mentally willing the image to appear.