The Power Of Fiction

WE all love to read fiction. And many of us have tried our hands at it. Some are phenomenally successful. Some are just hopeless storytellers .

Fiction is basically the art of telling lies. The fulcrum about which the story of a narrative  rotates does not (or hardly)exist. In fact Picasso once went to the extent of telling us that all art are false.

In his essay entitled ‘The sense of an Ending’, Frank Kermode defines fiction as ‘something we know does not exist but which help us to make sense of, and move in the world’. In other words the  fictionality of a given narrative is taken for granted and in fact many a time in our day to day discourse  we invent different fictions to help us out of problem and also to perpetuate the existence of our self-serving interests. This is also to mean that arguably we need to create  fiction for the promotion of a particular idea and also the person who remains behind that idea.

A case in point is the story of the apple involving  Sir Issac Newton. It is believed that Newton’s discovery of  gravitation was occasioned by the fall of an apple when he was sitting in a contemplative mood. But many have contested the story including the celebrated Science historian I.B.Cohen. Many argue that the story of the apple is merely an invention by historians with French writer Voltaire often cited as the chief suspect.  J.B.S. Haldane , an outstanding British Biological Scientist went to the extent of suggesting that ‘the story of the apple’ was a capitalist propaganda. Nevertheless it is a beautiful story and it has helped popularise the concept of gravitation and also  the man who is behind it. Many hold the view that such a beautiful story should not be destroyed by a ‘quest for historical accuracy’.

Even the history that we read as textbooks can border on fiction. History is basically a ‘personal construct’ as the past we ‘know’ is always contingent upon our own ‘present’.

Many doubt the existence of  medieval  Ahom general Lachit Borphukan and the narrative in which he murders his own maternal uncle for the dereliction of his duty. Often it is cited as an example of a story getting influenced by the killing of Kanch in Krishna narratives.

Nevertheless the ‘story’ has helped keep alive the Assamese nationalism –a ‘story’which is invoked in time of crisis. A ‘quest for historical accuracy’ may be ill-advised in this case.

There are many organisations in Assam whose survival litany is the story of the ‘step-motherly treatment’ meted out to the state by the centre.  But the level of corruption that the state is steeped in presently and also the astronomical grants( compare it with other states) that the centre has given to our state lead us to question this view. Besides should one go by the newspapers’ reports, one is more than consternated by the amount of money that has gone back unutilised. Nevertheless it is largely a convenient fiction that guarantees the survival of many organizations.

Leaky Gut Syndrome is not a recognised medical diagnosis. Yet lot of fictionalised accounts about the ailment are doing the rounds just for the sake of selling alternative medicine. Nevertheless this ‘fiction’ is useful and  has helped thrive a business.

Examples abound.

Fiction is a part of that power which eternally desires evil which eternally desires good.

Reference:
Hopes and Impediments by Chinua Achebe
The Universe  by J.P.Mcevoy
Re-thinking History by Keith Jenkin
The history of the siege of Lisbon by Jose Saramago