[MD] Art and Stories

[Ian Glendinning]

Hi Steve,

Not read his latest yet, but very much liked Life of Pi ... the
stretching of credulity of reality with fiction is pretty central to
that I recall.
Coincidentally, Yann Martell is on BBC R4 Start The Week (just posted
the Matthew Crawford link) next Monday, discussing his latest.

Regards
Ian

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 12:49 PM, Steven Peterson
<peterson.steve at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Just finished Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel, the latest from the
> author of Life of Pi--one of my all-time favorites:
>
> "Fiction and nonfiction are not so easily divided. Fiction may not be
> real, but it’s true; it goes beyond the garland of facts to get to
> emotional and psychological truths. As for nonfiction, for history, it
> may be real, but its truth is slippery, hard to access, with no fixed
> meaning bolted to it. If history doesn’t become story, it dies to
> everyone except the historian. Art is the suitcase of history,
> carrying the essentials. Art is the life buoy of history. Art is seed,
> art is memory, art is vaccine."
>
> “In addition to the knowledge of history...we need the understanding
> of art. Stories identify, unify, give meaning to. Just as music is
> noise that makes sense, a painting is colour that makes sense, so a
> story is life that makes sense."
>
> Have you read this? I'm not sure what to say about that last bit right
> now other than that it grabbed me. I'd be interested in hearing your
> thougts while I wait for the dust to settle.
>
> Best,
> Steve
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