Allow me to begin by mentioning that I have already read Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. This second time around, however, I tried very hard to read this story in a manner that pertained to this class, as far as ‘what are the truths and what are the lies’ goes. Obviously this was a work of fiction, and yet I still read it as a biographical account of an unfortunate soldier. As I reflect back on that little fact of reality, I begin to wonder why? Fiction, by definition, is not true; a ‘fictitious’ work of literature tells a falsified story of imaginary events and people, and occasionally places. So, then, what separates a lie from a short story? What makes a lie “not real”?
The story does not exist outside of the pages. However, inside and upon the pages, the story does exist. The story is “real” because Bierce made it real by writing it down. But at the same time, the story is unreal; with that being said, though, this story is not a lie. Or is it? What is a lie? When I told that room full of people in the first week of class that I had two dogs, one chocolate lab and one yellow lab, was I lying? Or was I just entertaining my audience with a very short story? It is an interesting question, I believe, about what separates a lie from any given work of fiction literature? Truth be told, I would much rather be known as “a great author” than “a pathological liar”.
You make an interesting point about the knife-edge across which a book becomes a lie. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that an author declares his deception before leading his readers along - a declaration we trust, despite the lies we can later expect. And yet professional, self-declared liars are regarded among the most successful and intelligent figures across the world. We really do enjoy hearing what we want, even if it means surrendering the credibility of our information. That makes it difficult to maintain validity when lies wont cut it. It’s difficult to accept hard realities when they actually occur; it’s nearly impossible to distinguish between problems worth discussing and blatant lies.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in your point about entertainment and storytelling. If, for example, you were to meet someone on a plane ride and they told you of their fascinating life story, would you resent them if you found out later that it wasn't true? Even if those few hours of your life were improved at the time?
ReplyDelete