Hi Wim (and Erin),
Sorry for taking your name in vain. I was going from memory and was being
inexact. Recently Erin wrote the following:
ERIN:If I asked you to tell me who you are, you would give me a STORY. If I
asked you to tell me how humans came to exist you would give me an
evolutionary STORY. You think your intellectual status prevents you from
living by myths you are mistaken. Intellect helps you to live by choosing
better stories to live by. Your interest in dynamic quality means that you
are using Pirsig's STORY to help create your own STORY. The cry for myth is
NOT a cry to go to mass on Sunday it is need to make your life coherent and
your response makes me think that I should send a shipload of kleenex
because
you are sobbing for it.
And you wrote:
This is just meant to express my support for your ideas about the
importance of stories in your 16/1 14:41 -0500 and 15/1
20:50 -0500 posts.
Your ideas illustrate very well what I wrote to John B. in the
'Moral Development'-thread about my meta-ethics 'We know what we
should do by experiencing Meaning in the context of a story.'
I wrote 30/10 15:28 +0100:
'We can evaluate alternative courses of action by their "fit"
into the story of "our" life (which can be understood as a part
of the bigger stories of the groups we identify with. The best
course of action is the one that makes our life into the most
Meaningful (chapter in a) story.' (see my post of 13/11 15:02
+0100 for the sequel).
I think that instead of using the language of stories being bearers of
meaning, I should have used your expression here: "'We know what we should
do by experiencing Meaning in the context of a story.' - in other words,
the meaning comes from the interaction of person and story - the story isn't
unambiguous, it requires the response from the observer/reader in order to
become meaningful. Which is all a long winded way of saying that I agree
with you - and with Erin - about the importance of story.
Now, a quick description of Neil Gaiman's work, in case it is of interest to
you or any others here. (Put simply I think it would help in what Erin
describes above: "Intellect helps you to live by choosing better stories to
live by." - the Sandman series is rich food for that process.
Firstly, it is a work in the form of a 'graphic novel' - that is, a comic.
Which immediately makes people think that it can't be a serious work of art
or interpretation. That's their loss (and also a less and less tenable
position). However, put very crudely, the plot revolves around a character
"Dream of the Endless" - the Endless being entities above the rank of Gods,
who carry out functions within existence (so, in order of oldest first, you
have Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction and so on). All the people we think
of as 'Gods' - eg Odin, Astarte - gain existence through people believing in
their stories. And Dream is the 'lord of stories' because all stories begin
in his realm - as dreams.
That brief summary doesn't really encompass all that can be gained from the
cycle of stories. All I can say is repeat my earlier comment, that they are
some of the most profound things I have read on the nature of story and how
and why story is so important to making us human.
Norman Mailer said of Sandman "Along with all else, Sandman is a comic strip
for intellectuals, and I say it's about time". Stephen King calls him a
'treasure house of story'.
For further info, try some of the following links:
http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/9923/sandman.html
http://www.dyve.net/wake/home.asp
And one last thing - happy writing!
Sam
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wim Nusselder" <wim.nusselder@antenna.nl>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2002 9:23 PM
Subject: Re: MD Recommendations - Neil Gaiman
> Dear Sam,
>
> I never heard of the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. I am more in
> the mood for writing than for reading nowadays. I might be
> interested in a book review or summary by you though...
>
> I don't think that stories are the bearers of meaning. You also
> say readers are the bearers of meaning. I think meaning is in the
> relation between stories and readers. And Meaning goes beyond by
> pointing to patterns of values yet to be formed.
>
> With friendly greetings,
>
> Wim
>
>
>
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