Truth?

"But it is clear that the belief is founded on a cultural misunderstanding, "Englishmen" being more ignorant of what is in the Bible than the Devil can afford to be" (Frye 16).

     I find this quote truly entertaining. No, not in my sarcastic, skeptical usual way; I seriously smile every time I read it. Although Frye was discussing Milton's Paradise Lost, it applies well to much of literature. First, take the "Englishmen" out and just substitute in something like "People" and we get closer to my point. It seems most people seem to "know" what is in the Bible. However, when asked, it turns out most of them have never read more than a page or two. Yes, I hear you saying, "Wait, this is not Bible as Lit. This is Oceans of Stories and we are talking about romance." I'm glad you brought that up. It wasn't you? Hmmmm...must have been someone on the other side of the classroom. Anyway, this seems to apply to popular literature as well. There are certain individuals who say that pop lit has no value or, as we have discussed, that fiction has no purpose. How do they know this? How did they come to this conclusion? I doubt they have read much of either. It seems a bit like the political campaign ads. Sometimes you have to wonder if they at all read the other parties statements or if they simply state the opposite of their own beliefs and shove the words into each other's mouths. The real victims here are those of us who have to endure their bickering. It's like being in a disfunctional family with the parents constantly fighting.
 Wait-task at hand-literature. So, those critical of popular literature point to the classics and declare with nose firmly pointed in the air that only the classics matter. Those who would reject fiction do the same, just substitute in a history text and they firmly state that only facts matter. There are problems with both statements. Classic literature was once popular literature and then there is the problem with the definition of fact that Frye will help us out with....

"Myths are usually assumed to be true, stories about what really happened. But truth is not the central basis for distinguishing the mythical from the fabulous: it is a certain quality of importance of authority for the community that marks the myth, not the truth as such" (Frye 116).
   
     If myths are assumed to be true, and truth is about authority instead of what has really taken place; our fiction bashing populace might have a challenge. It is the authority given by the community who determine the truth of a story. Politics again shows us examples of this. When a trusted government tells its people something is true, they take it to heart. Nations are sometimes so enchanted by the leader they trust him fully. Hopefully for the subjects this leader is an honest man. What if he is not? What if he is some con man who has them completely snowed? Hitler had many convinced that he was a great and effective leader. He led his people alright, but we know what else was going on and how that all worked out. We must be very careful about who we trust to determine the truth. My method is to look at things carefully and skeptically then determine it for myself, but you do as you wish. Let's have a look at the Greek's method....

"Greek critics distinguished verbal structures as true, false, and plastic, or more accurately plasmatic, the presenting of things as they conceivably could be. Truth and falsehood are not literary categories, and are only approximately even verbal ones" (Frye 17).

   This is not a bad system; I think we could use a bit more of this today not only in literature but in all aspects of life. If more people could learn to stop and think about what is really going on instead of what is being spoon fed to them maybe we could have a happier world. Think of how different the story of Callirhoe would have been without the jealous assumptions. Girls, remember the advice on page 8  of the story, "...a woman is easily captured when she believes she is loved." We must be very careful when taking the advice of others and deciding what is true. Is there ever a truth? Or is truth just a passionate point of view? Considering that our culture depends on this concept, maybe we should not unravel the whole ball of string today. The way communication is changing with the introduction of the internet and things like this blog, information is everywhere. My advice, is to do as the Greeks and sort it out the best you can, and question what you "know".