{"id":6197,"date":"2012-11-06T20:42:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-06T19:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.richardlittledale.co.uk\/?p=6197"},"modified":"2012-11-06T20:42:14","modified_gmt":"2012-11-06T19:42:14","slug":"story-with-a-big-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/2012\/11\/06\/story-with-a-big-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Story with a big S"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 3.14<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

One year after his epic poetic adventure ‘Life of Pi’ was published, author Yann Martel said the following in an interview about it:<\/span><\/p>\n

“I was sort of looking for a story, not only with a small ‘s’ but sort of with a capital ‘S’\u00a0\u2013 something that would direct my life.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

As an enduring advocate of the power of story, I cannot but agree with him. Stories are, indeed, powerful things. Not only that, but they can wend their way under the surface of cultures, like a hidden river boxed in under the built-up splendour of a city – before emerging in unexpected places.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I sat in a hospital ward today reading ‘Life of \u00a0Pi’ I was transported back over twenty years to the time when I was studying Medieval French Texts. The Voyage de St Brendan, with its enduring ocean quest and its fantastical adventures, bore many similarities to Martel’s tale so many centuries later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where Martel wins out, for me, is his lyrical expression – gilding the most everyday things with the gold of a poet’s touch:<\/span><\/p>\n

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