Quickly quotable.

The other night I was looking over Yann Martel's new novel Beatrice and Virgil, and was pleased to find some lovely thoughts on fiction and nonfiction right in the beginning of it. I don't think I'll keep reading it--Martel's a little "literary" for me--but I did enjoy this rumination by his character Henry, an author:

"But fiction and nonfiction are very rarely published in the same book. That was the hitch. Tradition holds that the two must be kept apart. That is how our knowledge and impressions of life are sorted in bookstores and libraries--separate aisles, separate floors--and that is how publishers prepare their books, imagination in one package, reason in another. It's not how writers write. A novel is not an entirely unreasonable creation, nor is an essay devoid of imagination. Nor is it how people live. People don't so rigorously separate the imaginative from the rational in their thinking and in their actions. There are truths and there are lies--these are the transcendent categories, in books as in life. The useful division is between the fiction and nonfiction that speaks the truth and the fiction and nonfiction that utters lies." (pp. 6-7.)

I enjoyed that. I enjoyed that a lot. And, frankly, that's probably the last thing in this novel I'm going to understand, so I'm going to stop reading it there. Sorry, Yann. I do still mean to read Life of Pi, someday. Has anyone read that one? Should I read it? Thanks for any input on this matter, and have a good weekend, all.

Comments

[Michelle @ The True Book Addict]

I loved Life of Pi. It is probably one of my favorite books. You should definitely read it! I plan on reading Beatrice and Virgil, but it will be awhile before I get around to it.

[Venta]

I forwarded this post to an English instructor I know. She was teaching a developmental English class, and I helped her students when they had to find and include scholarly sources in their essays. Before this assignment, students were writing personal narratives, and the instructor promoted their creativity. In this next, more scholarly (and "nonfiction") essay, she assured the students they could still be creative. I know where she was coming from, but I assumed that most writing is creative regardless of genre. What I LOVED about this instructor's prompt is that this is exactly what she was telling her students. All writing is or can be creative. I know we do a lot of reading promotion, but how do we get people to write more, too?!?

[nan]

I read Life of Pi -- didn't like it; basically got bored once they were on the boat. I'm not much for philosophical novels or novels where it's all about the style. Superficial creature that I am, I'm all (or mostly) about plot. Very occasional exceptions for people like Virginia Woolf but only when I'm in the right place, peace-of-mind-wise. Sadly, most of my reading especially of fiction is for escape and entertainment rather than enlightenment.

[Citizen Reader]

Michelle,
Thanks for the input! I must say I've had a lot of dedicated fans of the novel telling me just to read it already!! Maybe this summer...

Venta,
I love how you use this stuff in your job. It makes me feel quasi-helpful, like I'm still on the reference desk or something! I also love your point about most writing being creative--I think that's true, although I myself have written a lot of stuff for jobs that certainly didn't feel very creative at the time.

Interestingly enough, I rather feel that more people are interested in writing than in reading, if tales of the massive amounts of book proposals being sent to agents and publishers are true. That is also one of my favorite thing about blogs--I think it encourages people to write, and to share more honest opinions. Seems like a good thing to me.

Nan,
Ha! I will try "Life of Pi," but I worry that I will have much the same reaction to it. I think my more literal mind struggles with philosophical novels, which is probably why I gravitated to the nonfiction eventually. I tend to be more about the characters in my novels, although I love a well-put-together sentence too. Hm, Virginia Woolf. That's another interesting idea. I've never really read anything of her fiction, I don't think (or at least I don't remember it). Like her essays, though.

[Lynne]

I've had Life of Pi on my shelf forever. I keep thinking "some day." Your comment to Nan echos (echoes?) my sentiments exactly. Every word of it.

I've never read Virginia Woolf anything! I need to, I know.

[nan]

If you've never read any Virginia Woolf I recommend Mrs. Dalloway (and there's a great movie with Vanessa Redgrave and Natasha McElhone) or To The Lighthouse for starters. You could always follow Mrs. D. with Michael Cunningham's The Hours and/or the movie based on that. Then decide how you feel about writers using other literary works as the foundation for their own fiction. Personally I'm torn. I liked The Hours and I really liked March but I know some writers who HATE this form and I understand their feelings. For nonfiction, the famous A Room of One's Own is good but I also like Moments of Being, which is a collection of her memoir writing. Common Reader and its sequel are good, too, though her idea of "common" is bit elevated even for us reading junkies these days ...

[Citizen Reader]

Lynne, Nan,
Perhaps, Lynne, we should read Mrs. Dalloway before "Life of Pi"? I've always wanted to read it (longer than I've wanted to read "Life of Pi") and I think it might be more accessible.

Nan,
I never gave much thought to writers using other literary works as jumping-off points for their own. Probably because I don't think I've ever read such a book! (Couldn't do March because I never cared for Little Women, and never did "The Hours" because I didn't know anything about Virginia Woolf!) I can see I've got a lot of catching up to do.

[M. Sanderling]

Wow! I'm so glad to hear someone else never cared for Little Women. I tried it at age 9. Couldn't get past chapter 1. I tried it again at age 40 because a friend of mine worked in the Louisa May Alcott house in Concord and she urged me to try it again. Got up to chapter 2 that time before pitching it. UGH.

[Citizen Reader]

M.,
You are emphatically not alone. I tried it several times and couldn't get into it, and for whatever reason I went and saw the movie (probably trying to get out of reading it) and I thought that was awful too. I'm also not a big Civil War buff so that never helped.

Don't worry about it--have your friend tell you what they liked about it so they know you tried and were interested--and then never try to read it again. :)

[Care]

I'm glad I read Life of Pi just so I can know what the hullabaloo is about. Some books just need to be read so you can honestly answer YES when someone asks. Not that I will rush out to read War & Peace but I crave the yes answer to that. Maybe someday.
I loved Mrs. Dalloway! (but on the second time I read it.) :) I enjoyed the movie, too.

[Citizen Reader]

Care,
That's one of the main reasons I wanted to read "Life of Pi" too. Glad to know you got through it!

Okay, I'm going to have to add "Mrs. Dalloway" to MY summer reading.