Life of Pi
Science and Religion
1. Did you grow up believing in God or practicing a religion? Do you now? 2. Do you think of science as different than religion? Why or why not? 3. Can science and faith coexist?
On Yann Martel (b. 1963)
• The Truth behind the Helsinki Roccamatios (1993) • Self (1996) • Life of Pi (2001) • Beatrice and Virgil (2010)
What is Stephen Harper Reading? (2007-2011) www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca Random House, 2009.
Interview with Yann Martel
Posted February, 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BzqsKLbGpM
The Novel’s Structure
Prologue
• “Author’s Note” • one “chapter”
Part Two: The Journey
• • • • two stories co-exist Pi’s POV and voice chapters 37-94 58 chapters
Part One: Pre-journey
• third person • chapters 1-36 • 37 chapters
Part Three: Post-journey
• third person • Chapters 95-100 • 5 chapters
The Author’s Note I
“If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams” (xi)
The Author’s Note II
“This book was born when I was hungry. Let me explain. In the spring of 1996, my second book, a novel, came out in Canada. It didn’t fare well […]” (v)
Self-reflexivity self-reflexive ▶ adjective containing a reflection or image of itself; selfreferential (Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed.) self‐reflexive ▶ A term applied to literary works that openly reflect upon their own processes of artful composition. Such self‐referentiality is frequently found in modern works of fiction that repeatedly refer to their own fictional status (see metafiction). The narrator in such works [...] is sometimes called a self-conscious narrator’. Self-reflexivity may also be found often in poetry. (Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, 3rd ed.)
The Author’s Note III
“That’s what fiction is about, isn’t it, the selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its
1. Did you grow up believing in God or practicing a religion? Do you now? 2. Do you think of science as different than religion? Why or why not? 3. Can science and faith coexist?
On Yann Martel (b. 1963)
• The Truth behind the Helsinki Roccamatios (1993) • Self (1996) • Life of Pi (2001) • Beatrice and Virgil (2010)
What is Stephen Harper Reading? (2007-2011) www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca Random House, 2009.
Interview with Yann Martel
Posted February, 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BzqsKLbGpM
The Novel’s Structure
Prologue
• “Author’s Note” • one “chapter”
Part Two: The Journey
• • • • two stories co-exist Pi’s POV and voice chapters 37-94 58 chapters
Part One: Pre-journey
• third person • chapters 1-36 • 37 chapters
Part Three: Post-journey
• third person • Chapters 95-100 • 5 chapters
The Author’s Note I
“If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams” (xi)
The Author’s Note II
“This book was born when I was hungry. Let me explain. In the spring of 1996, my second book, a novel, came out in Canada. It didn’t fare well […]” (v)
Self-reflexivity self-reflexive ▶ adjective containing a reflection or image of itself; selfreferential (Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed.) self‐reflexive ▶ A term applied to literary works that openly reflect upon their own processes of artful composition. Such self‐referentiality is frequently found in modern works of fiction that repeatedly refer to their own fictional status (see metafiction). The narrator in such works [...] is sometimes called a self-conscious narrator’. Self-reflexivity may also be found often in poetry. (Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, 3rd ed.)
The Author’s Note III
“That’s what fiction is about, isn’t it, the selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its