A Fictitious Rant

Rant

Fictitious Reality

When a person is immersed in fiction I believe this is a window on reality. It is a true perspective of life through the focussed vantage point of an author, yet still only fiction, a description of things that never happened in that particular sequence, in that particular time with those particular people, yet so real, so valid, confirming and guiding.  How can fiction be so powerful? Isn’t that the role of documentaries and non-fiction writing?  I think to a point, but while fact and substance are concrete, fiction, parable, allegory and metaphor make a stronger image, a lasting impression a better after taste and ultimately win the dual at fifty feet.  

By definition fiction has no bias.  Its value is in its discourse and in its urgency.  Old Man and the Sea never actually happened but events like that have transpired and characters like that have lived of that I am certain and as a result Hemingway has in his parable narrated a message of loyalty, determination and strength of character while entertaining his readers.   

 

I believe that people who live outside a world of fiction have cheated their imaginations, depleted their souls and have failed to see the complexities of the human condition in the real world.  They are empty vessels.  I have no qualms with factual reading as my life depends on it and so I do both.  It is a balancing act, but if I could only have one reality.  Mine would be fictitious.

Marty Rempel