What’s the Point of Fiction?
I have wanted to write a long post on this topic for some time, but gathering all my thoughts from the nooks and crannies, books and pages where they live would be like trying to remove all the fish from a lake with a hand-net, not to mention arranging the fish into coherent thoughts. So I stumbled on this quote which says perfectly what I think the value and purpose of fiction is. The book is called On Moral Fiction by John Gardener. The quote applies not only to literature but to films as well, it could even be extrapolated to have implications for all arts. Anyway, Gardener says the value and purpose of fiction is to,
“. . . test human values, not for the purpose of preaching or peddling a particular ideology, but in a truly honest and open-minded effort to find out what best promotes human fulfillment; and it does so, as great artists beginning with Homer have always known, by the kind of analysis of characters and the things they do that brings both writer and reader to understanding, sympathy, and love for human possibility.”
This, of course, is the ideal not always the reality. There are plenty of books and films that fall far short of accomplishing this, but this is what narrative art can and should do. What’s more this is what gives narrative art value. You are not simply reading made up (i.e. “not true”) stories for entertainment–you are digging deeper into human possibility, developing understanding and sympathy for people, and entering into the effort to discover what best promotes human fulfillment. As a Christian I know a relationship with Christ, and a correct world-view is what ultimately does this, but that does not undermine Gardener’s statement in the least. Many authors do not offer solutions, but invite you to join in their journey. Their characters may be making mistakes, going down rabbit trails or dead ends, running from God, or doing good the best they know how, but we won’t know till we get there. The kind of understanding and sympathy this promotes is always a good thing. A Nihilist book read through the proper lens only increases my thankfulness that life has meaning, yet simultaneously my sympathy and understanding for the despairing Nihilist are enriched immeasurably.
Thank-you for the clear thought in quote form. My reading has always been a search for sympathy and understanding for others, a kind of sense that enhances life. Every good and perfect gift comes from the God, even in the form of (good!) fiction.
I used to think that if a film, book, or even song could make me stop thinking about my life and make me think about the story, here we have a good story. Over the last few months I’ve been questioning that simplistic standard of the arts. I’ve come to the conclusion through various arts and artists that I’ve studied and enjoyed(Dylan, both bob and Jakob, No Country for Old Men-Coens-, There Will Be Blood, Tolkien, Lewis, Ryan Adams, and more), that good stories must have glory, or weight to them to have any real value for me, as opposed to a fast food type song, film, or book. And as I reflected on your post, I realized a bit about why some stories can be seen as poor, less valuable, and sometimes just bad to my taste. A story written to satisfy a certain crowd or ideal is not going to satisfy because it leaves no room for reality, which is unexplained and doesn’t satify in itself. An extreme being romance novels or teen movies. These fictioinal stories act as more of an escape, or something to confirm our worldview or idolized lifestyle of sex and humor. The quote you gave helped me to better understand what makes “good” or valuable fiction. Christian or not, good fiction, or even good art for that matter, will illuminate places, characters, situations, and events for the sake of better understanding human possiblity and human situation. A good story causes you to think of possiblities outside of our limited world view and to imagine something more; something greater or worse, something wildly complex or quite simple, something unthinkably awful or extremely wonderful. Good stories don’t just preoccupy you with characters and themes, they give you a shelf to place your heart on next to another. Thanks man, reading this and writing a response has helped me better understand some things and better appreciate them.
ps sweet picture
I’m right there with you man, thanks for the reflections… The picture is the end-piece illustration by N.C. Wyeth for Treasure Island.
Realize this was posted a while ago, but I just ran across it – great quote and very interesting commentary, Alex. I’ve been thinking about the role of Christians in the world of art and literature for a while, so I thought your ideas were particularly insightful. Also appreciated your discussion of how our worldviews affect our readings and the recognition that we can appreciate and enjoy literature, even if we don’t share the author’s basic presuppositions. Those are good ideas from a reader’s standpoint – just wondering if you have ideas about the ways that Christian writers should approach the world of fiction…In your opinion, how do/should we as Christians write in a way to both reach the culture in a way that is meaningful for us and them (so that we can relate) and yet also present the hope that we have in Christ (recognizing there is quite a gap in the way the world thinks and the way that we think)?
Man, glad you found this Devon, and even more glad you are thinking about it. Great question… I don’t know exactly how to go about answering it. My first impulse would be to point out a bunch of different kinds of Christian artists who I believe have done it very well, Tolkien, Lewis, John Milton, Marilynne Robinson, Wendell Berry, Flannary O’Connor, Gerard Manley Hopkins, U2, Johnny Cash, J.S. Bach, Makoto Fujimura (he’s a painter) etc… The amazing thing about all the Christian artists is that they are all considered top tier artists by the secular world. Now they are working in very very diverse time periods, cultures, art forms, themes etc… and they are not often overtly declaring ‘the Gospel,’ in the traditional sense. The first thing to do would be to study artists like these and just try to absorb what they are doing… So if they are considered great by non-christians then something they are saying must be resonating with out humanity not merely with a Christian world-view. This happens by a sort of reverse process of the ’splintered light’ idea. http://splinteredlight.com/2008/03/ As Christians we have the Truth revealed to us in a way that makes sense of the universe, it makes sense of our hearts and souls and how we were created, it is ‘written on our hearts’ at a subconscious but very real level. Secular artists often mine up that Truth and present it in a truthful way so that everyone, even we Christians, can relate to it. Conversely, when Christians create a truthful artwork that contains an aspect of revealed Truth, it resonates deeply even with secular people who don’t know all that it means or where it comes from. So the answer is that Christians should write in the same way that all good writers write. If they do that they cannot help but let what they believe spill out in an organic and authentic way. This will resonate with people, Christian and non-Christian, because it will reflect what it is like to be truly human for everyone. The problem with most ‘Christian’ art is that it is really just propaganda for the Gospel, and propaganda is always bad. Even when the message is good, the end doesn’t justify the means. If you tell someone about Jesus with hate in your heart God may use that but it doesn’t make what you did good. Let the preachers preach and let artists explore the mysteries and implications of Truth.
Really cool thoughts… I had emailed your mom back in the summer as I was considering art and literature majors, just to see how different Christians are viewing this concept of doing what we do well, and she also had a lot of interesting things to say. I really appreciate you guys’ willingness to read, enjoy, and interact with things that are not necessarily “Christian”-themed. And I definitely relate to your ideas about Christian propaganda…working in a Christian bookstore, I’ve seen and even recently read some poorly-written, overtly Christian books. But as I struggle with the issue, I think we could do a lot more good writing books that, as you say, even secular readers cannot discount for its quality and its ability to speak to human experience. But I also want to be sure that I’m not just giving myself a cop-out way to avoid giving an account for the hope that is in me, all in the name of wanting to write a book that unchristians will read. Because I (and I don’t mean “me” as much as I mean a person) could write a book that they enjoy (because it’s well-written), that they identify with and, and in-the-end walk away from without seeing redemption woven into the things that I write. If I can only identify with their sufferings, without speaking to their inherent desire for some form of salvation, I just wonder if I’m doing what God calls us to. My main thing really comes down to this: How do I offer the hope that people are so desperately seeking without turning them away by writing “just another Christian book”? It’s tough; they’re dying for a cure and it’s hard to know how to reveal it to them…
But I do appreciate your thoughts. You have some great insights into the world of the arts and literature…good to read, good to think about