The importance of writing stories

Egg-shaped opening in stairway exit, historic city walls in York, England.

One of the writers I admire most is Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. This week in Israel, Murakami talked about about his decision to accept a controversial literary prize and why it's important to fight the system. This excerpt of his speech appeared in Salon (emphasis mine):

"I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist, which is to say as a professional spinner of lies.

"Of course, novelists are not the only ones who tell lies. Politicians do it, too, as we all know. Diplomats and military men tell their own kinds of lies on occasion, as do used car salesmen, butchers and builders. The lies of novelists differ from others, however, in that no one criticizes the novelist as immoral for telling lies. Indeed, the bigger and better his lies and the more ingeniously he creates them, the more he is likely to be praised by the public and the critics. Why should that be?

"My answer would be this: Namely, that by telling skillful lies - which is to say, by making up fictions that appear to be true - the novelist can bring a truth out to a new location and shine a new light on it. In most cases, it is virtually impossible to grasp a truth in its original form and depict it accurately. This is why we try to grab its tail by luring the truth from its hiding place, transferring it to a fictional location, and replacing it with a fictional form. In order to accomplish this, however, we first have to clarify where the truth lies within us. This is an important qualification for making up good lies.

"Today, however, I have no intention of lying. I will try to be as honest as I can. There are a few days in the year when I do not engage in telling lies, and today happens to be one of them.

"So let me tell you the truth. In Japan a fair number of people advised me not to come here to accept the Jerusalem Prize. Some even warned me they would instigate a boycott of my books if I came. The reason for this, of course, was the fierce battle that was raging in Gaza. The U.N. reported that more than a thousand people had lost their lives in the blockaded Gaza City, many of them unarmed citizens -- children and old people.

"Any number of times after receiving notice of the award, I asked myself whether traveling to Israel at a time like this and accepting a literary prize was the proper thing to do, whether this would create the impression that I supported one side in the conflict, that I endorsed the policies of a nation that chose to unleash its overwhelming military power. This is an impression, of course, that I would not wish to give. I do not approve of any war and I do not support any nation. Neither, of course, do I wish to see my books subjected to a boycott.

"Finally, however, after careful consideration, I made up my mind to come here. One reason for my decision was that all too many people advised me not to do it. Perhaps, like many other novelists, I tend to do the exact opposite of what I am told. If people are telling me - and especially if they are warning me - "Don't go there," "Don't do that," I tend to want to "go there" and "do that." It's in my nature, you might say, as a novelist. Novelists are a special breed. They cannot genuinely trust anything they have not seen with their own eyes or touched with their own hands.

"And that is why I am here. I chose to come here rather than stay away. I chose to see for myself rather than not to see. I chose to speak to you rather than to say nothing.

"Please do allow me to deliver one very personal message. It is something that I always keep in mind while I am writing fiction. I have never gone so far as to write it on a piece of paper and paste it to the wall: rather, it is carved into the wall of my mind, and it goes something like this:

"Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg."

"Yes, no matter how right the wall may be and how wrong the egg, I will stand with the egg. Someone else will have to decide what is right and what is wrong; perhaps time or history will decide. If there were a novelist who, for whatever reason, wrote works standing with the wall, of what value would such works be?

"What is the meaning of this metaphor? In some cases, it is all too simple and clear. Bombers and tanks and rockets and white phosphorus shells are that high, solid wall. The eggs are the unarmed civilians who are crushed and burned and shot by them.

"This is not all, though. It carries a deeper meaning. Think of it this way. Each of us is, more or less, an egg. Each of us is a unique, irreplaceable soul enclosed in a fragile shell. This is true of me, and it is true of each of you. And each of us, to a greater or lesser degree, is confronting a high, solid wall. The wall has a name: it is "the System." The System is supposed to protect us, but sometimes it takes on a life of its own and then it begins to kill us and cause us to kill others - coldly, efficiently, systematically.

"I have only one reason to write novels and that is to bring the dignity of the individual soul to the surface and shine a light upon it. The purpose of a story is to sound an alarm, to keep a light trained on the System in order to prevent it from tangling our souls in its web and demeaning them. I fully believe it is the novelist's job to keep trying to clarify the uniqueness of each individual soul by writing stories -- stories of life and death, stories of love, stories that make people cry and quake with fear and shake with laughter. This is why we go on, day after day, concocting fictions with utter seriousness..."

Comments

[Di Overton]

I will second the emphasis - the novelist can bring a truth out to a new location and shine a new light on it.

[Di]

You can imagine how I loved this. xo

[Gina]

excellent photography !!!!!!!

see my pics:

www.ginaspics.net

[Kay]

I don't always understand Haruki's storeis - but I understand this! Thanks for posting it.

[amber]

"...bring the dignity of the individual soul to the surface and shine a light upon it. "--

This whole post gives me a lot to ponder. Both for writing and as a person.

Thanks.

:)

[Stephan Alexander Scharnberg]

Great post!

Sometimes we are cracked eggs, other times whipped, scrambled, poached, Sunnyside Up, or Over Easy, and sometimes we are whole eggs!

[Christina]

I would love to read his writings. He sounds like an author I'd like to have on my shelf. Prayers for all, at this time.

xxoo

[Gillian daSilva]

Haruki keep shining your light. Wonderful read Tara. From this egg to you, a good egg yourself!
(You know, I've always thought of us as more than just our shells...)
xoxo

[jeanie]

This is a marvelous post. I have always appreciated Murakami's writing, but this digs deep on a very different level. Thanks for sharing it.

[Yoli]

Tara I have always loved him, both as an artist and as a human being of uncompromising integrity.

[Marianne]

I'm with you Tara - Murakami is one of my all time favorite writers and this speech is exactly what I would have expected from him - a lyrical, poetic and slightly mystifying allegory about deeply challenging social and moral dilemmas. I'm not a novelist - like you I'm more of an activist and documentarian - so I am ready to do the hard work to find out the details and the big picture so that I can have a view on what is right and wrong about any given situation.

For me also - the most powerful point he makes is about the power of stories "to bring the dignity of the individual soul to the surface and shine a light upon it. ...to sound an alarm, to keep a light trained on the System in order to prevent it from tangling our souls in its web and demeaning them".

Good stuff Haruki!

[judith]

I am speechless. Murakami's words echo so much of what has been rattling around my head recently. Just the basic concepts : what is real? what is true? The fine line between fiction and reality ... . and which reality do I choose??? I've also been watching as a few Americans seem to wake up from their blindly following a system which they were taught not to question. Interesting times , indeed.
JJjjj

[pam aries]

Well i'm a cracked egg. You always have the most interesting posts..makes people THINK. How is Paris these days?

[Colette Copeland]

Murakami has the courage of his convictions. I want to point out the part where he tells his Israeli audience that, like himself, they too are eggs, as some readers may miss it. So I don't have a problem with the Wall and the Egg part, because all too often it is true, at any give time, in some parts of the world.

[Susan]

I enjoyed reading the author's comments although I, too, have a bit of a problem with the egg/wall comparison. If only things were this simple to explain... I tend to see more shades of gray rather than clear-cut black and white. But of course in the Gaza situation, so many eggs were crushed against that wall. But the comment on eggs being in Israel, also, is telling. Such is the conundrum of politics in the Middle East. On another note, what are your thoughts on Benjamin Netanyahu being asked to form a new government in Israel? He is evidently already on record as saying he doesn't think Israel went far enough in the Gaza campaign... this doesn't bode well for the future, does it?

[marilyn]

Murakami's words touched me. I will search out his writings to read more. Thanks Tara for widening my world and helping to open my eyes more and more.

[Tara Bradford]

I agree the egg and wall example is extreme. I also believe quite firmly in taking a stand on things, as you know. I do believe there is a right and a wrong in most situations. But the part Murakami wrote about writing stories to shine a light on truth is accurate, I'd say. xoxox

[stephanie]

Interesting to read this Tara, but I did have a problem with the egg and the wall parable myself. There are many eggs in Isreal also. I am though on the side of the egg, all eggs in the world that are searching for peace.

come by for a visit and then go read Kate's post I link too...the possibility of an opportunity for a shift....

x..x

[Tara Bradford]

I agree that it is an extreme example - as neither the "wall" nor the "egg" is ever always right. And I do believe it's up to us to decide what's right and wrong - and who's right and wrong. Perhaps something was lost in translation? But I do agree with what he says about the reason we write - and read - novels and the natural skepticism of most writers. And I also think he's right that it's up to us to challenge the system, which is designed to protect us, but often fails miserably (i.e. the last eight years of the Bush administration).

[debi]

I would so love to do the politically correct thing & agree with Murakami on all he says, but I so do not. In fact, I find myself quite troubled with a couple of statements.

" . . . no matter how right the wall may be and how wrong the egg, I will stand with the egg . . . " No matter how wrong the egg, I will stand with it? Truly? No matter how wrong? And no matter how right the wall? Because the wall represents "the system"? A system whose purpose Murakami deems is to protect us? Another statement with which I disagree, and perhaps the reason Murakami stands against it, no matter how right. He has delegated power for his protection to an entity other than himself - this sounds much like a teenager who is angry at his parents for not allowing him to do everything he wants; although they are right, and he knows them to be right, he will stand against them because they represent "the system". When he grows up, he will admit his folly. I find it a bit scary - this standing on the wrong side, no matter how wrong, and feeling pride in that standing. There is little to be proud of in that statement. It is the easy way out - to not question.