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This article is by
no means an evaluation of Geoffrey Bingham's fiction.
The critics must do that work, for this article is written
by the same Geoffrey Bingham. It is really an apologia
for all fictional writing, and especially for the fiction
I have written. Fiction for me has always held a high
place in my esteem. Not only is it highly entertaining
in an elevated level as well as an ordinary one, but
it has taught me so much about humanity and of the creation
in which we live. I wonder where my understanding of
both humanity and creation and then both as the one,
would be. I am aware that some writers drift into fantasy
and so one has to be sensibly critical of their flights
into this imagined world, yet even within the fantasy
there may well be insights we can receive.
What prompted this
article is an experience I had many years ago. I was
giving Christian teaching to a group of men and women
well out in the Australian bush who looked for sensible,
doctrinal exposition and devotional instruction. A number
of my theological writings were available to them. Set
out on a table were not only these books but also some
of my fiction writing. As a group they bought the theological
and devotional books but not one of them bought a book
of fiction. I was bemused by this and asked their pastor
the reason.
'Oh,' he said, 'they
do not think fiction is true.'
'Do they think it is
false?' I asked.
He thought for a moment
and then nodded. 'I suppose that is what it amounts to,' he
replied.
In my mind I was saying, 'Fiction
cannot be false simply because it is fiction. It may
be that what is written never happened in that form but
it is composed of numerous facts which are put together
in what is called a fictional form.'
I simply nodded to
my past friend, but have stored up the impression of
that occasion in my mind. I have cogitated the matter
over the years since then, and have reached some conclusions.
One of these is that what is fictional may, in some case,
be false, but I have only occasionally come across a
book of fiction which is false. Some may come to conclusions
with which I don't agree, but then it is my privilege
to disagree. Most fiction is simply narrative which follows
lines we know so well to be things as they are in life.
On these grounds I have supposed my friends only feel
safe when they are reading Scripture or books about the
Bible. Seeing the Bible as inspired by God they can feel
secure in what they call 'the real' ie. reality which
cannot be gainsaid.
I suppose I could work
around the matter by saying that the word 'true' cannot
be limited to what has actually happened in history and
the word 'false' does not necessarily apply to fiction
because it generally does speak of what has happened
and does happen. Even so, I don't think I could argue
this successfully with my Christian friends mentioned
above.
I am inclined to ask
whether these folk are readers of C.S. Lewis's religious
novels, and whether, likewise of the novels of Tolkien,
Williams and George McDonald. Possibly they are in which
case they read what is fantasy or allegory, and probably
justify their reading by understanding the references
to what they think are biblical principles. Undoubtedly
they would be attracted to John Bunyan's novels, for
novels they are but of course they are fiction. Because
he speaks along biblical lines they would say it is not
fiction but fact. This being the case, then they are
not against fiction as such, but fiction which is palpably
unscriptural. How interesting!
I wonder whether the
folk who did not want to read my fiction, were nevertheless
readers of fiction. I can understand their distinctions-fiction
which is not essentially biblical ought not to be read
for it is a waste of time. They are then posed with the
proposition, 'Logically I ought not to read fiction at
all since it is all untrue. For me to read it, as a Christian,
is a waste of time.' Of course the crunch comes when
they likewise have to reject all materials on radio,
TV, videos and computer showings which are not strictly
true. The friends of whom I have spoke and who did not
buy my fiction books may well have reasoned, 'Oh, I like
fiction, but it does not come into my purview so far
as my being a Christian. I like films,. plays, operas,
songs classical and otherwise, but then they are in a
different category. I simply mistrust fiction when it
purports to be linked with the gospel.'
I'm afraid it is there
that I simply agree that my friends who have that attitude
and although I think it is inconsistent with matters
of truth and reality I must leave them with their convictions.
I would like to argue that the Bible has many fables,
allegories and tales which have to be fictional, but
their mind is that since the fable or imagined story
is in the Bile therefore it is sanctified and not to
be regarded just as fiction. I turn my eyes up to heaven
and shake my head at such thinking. Jesus told many stories
to illustrate many points. Even my anti-fiction friends
have to accept the fact that some of Jesus stories may
be fictional whilst they may have come from true life,
and are therefore valid.
In my own case
I would say that all my stories come from true life although
they have not always happened in the form I have written.
Biographies which stick strictly to the facts do not
always turn out to be the best accounts of persons and
their lives. They can be as lacking in reality as an
idealised biography is lacking in reality because of
the perceptions of the biographer. Perceptions are not
to be trusted or even leaned upon, for perceivers are
notoriously influenced by their own psyches, genes and
whatever of experience that has gone to fashion them
as they are. It is difficult for anyone to write without
prejudices or enthusiasm.
Some years ago a certain
kind of novel emerged what was in fact biographical or
autobiographical, but was so obviously fictional in some
areas that it could not merit the title of biography.
Even so it had so much of the biographical that it could
not be called fiction. After a time the literary critics
came up with the word 'faction' and this is a useful
word. When it comes to what some would call 'pure fiction' then
most writers would claim that most of what they had written
was simply true elements of life put together in that
readable form we call 'fiction'. Whilst biographies and
autobiographies may in certain cases be called 'faction' yet
almost all of fiction is faction.
I think that the rejection
of my fiction writing was made by my listeners because
they felt uneasy lest what I was aiming at in a story
was not biblical, that I was presenting facts in a way
which was not biblical. Their misgivings would not allow
them to link fiction with the Bible. Now it is a fact
that many of my books which treat the Bible as a story,
and therefore sound like fiction but are not, are the
books which sell best. I believe the Bible is one story
from beginning to end, and herein lies its attraction-that
it begins somewhere and comes to a good conclusion. Of
course within it are all kinds of writing, including
illustrative fables, allegories, dreams, visions and
apocalyptic descriptions which are symbolic. Even my
friends have to come to terms with these matters.
We have somehow come
to see that the term 'story' is not quite parallel with
the term 'fiction'. Yet they have one thing in common,
namely narrative. If we have come this far in our thinking
then I am now able to press my point. If the Bible uses
stories which are fiction in the form of fables, tales
and allegories in order to communicate truth, then why
cannot fiction be put to the same use? Most fiction writers
would agree that they do try to get truth to readers
through this medium. The only possible objection a person
could make would be that the content or substance fiction
writers use is not in keeping the truth of the Bible.
Such fiction is therefore not the truth. Whilst the same
folk may enjoy written novels, stories and other fiction
as found in books, films, plays, operas and so on, because
the fiction entertain, is it then not reasonable to ask
them whether story writing by authors soaked in the Scriptures
and who have 'the mind' of the Scriptures should not
be accepted as valid biblical teachers who are using
a particular medium which is called fiction, ie. story
telling?
I am really saying,
in effect, that the author who as a Christian is a good
theologian and at the same time an artist, is a person
competent to write good fiction. It is the most authentic
because he has the mind of the Scriptures. He has wisdom,
the knowledge of the truth, the derived attributes of
God Himself, such as love, goodness, truth, righteousness
and holiness. Is he not competent then to understand
the great realities of human behaviour and so to depict
Man in all his greatness of being the image of God, and
in all his depravity as being the most depraved creature
in the universe. In particular he touches on themes of
human behaviour and the knows in depths what it is to
be human before God and in the context of His creation.
His writing can be of a very high calibre and if he is
truly competent both in his art, can he not reach heights
which we would call profound literature? Does he not
then hold the key to the nature of creation as a whole?
Can one have a full theology when he lacks a theology
of the great matters-of creation, of Man and of God?
Such a person as this is surely to be trusted most as
an author, musician, painter and sculptor to say nothing
of all who have unnamed creative gifts.
It is a matter of gratification
to me that over the years I have had many readers write
to me and tell of the illuminations and revelations of
God, creation and Man which have brought relief from
cramped and constricted knowledge of the world in which
they live, the God who both created and redeemed it,
and the brilliance and beauty of creation of which Man
is an integral part. A few have said that they get more
of my theology from my fiction books than even my theological
writings. They often ask me whether a story is true or
not. What they mean to ask is, 'Did these events really
happened. Did that person-or persons-really exist?' I
do not answer their questions except to say, 'What difference
would it make if you were given the correct answer?' It
is a strange thing about a story that once it is told
it sticks in human memory. It influences so much of what
they think for good or otherwise.
The writer knows
that when he writes all of his being is called into action.
It is the same with poets, artists and sculptors. Most
creative people sense they have a calling and that it
does not originate within themselves. They are called
to carry out a mandate to be conveyers of truth. That
is their part in a functional universe. They always feel
the compulsion of their calling. The way they fashion
is unique to each one, but what they are required to
convey is the truth. Here we enter into a realm too vast
to include in this paper.
I do not imagine my
article will convince a person to read my fiction. In
fact getting people to read what I write is not my business.
An artist is a living, human medium for the living truth,
but he cannot be his own critic, nor has he to make sure
his works are received by many. As a writer I am wonderfully
moved by what I am able to write and that I am called
to write. This is not self adulation or laudation. Behind
the true and creative writer is the blessing needed to
fulfil the task given to him or her. In other literary
and artistic times they spoke of the Muses. One's Muse
could be gracious and the creative flow would come, or
the Muses, for certain reasons, would frown on the one
it patronised. The writer who is a Christian discards
the word Muse for Creator. He has a personal relationship
with God as Creator and Redeemer so that works with the
mind of the Triune God. It is as though truth pours into
him from every angle and direction and he knows the thrill
of the characters created of characters known or the
whole substance of life which is the truth. Something
happens which is beyond his immediate control or imagination.
The rhetoric of composition is not a contrived matter
but one of inspiration and is therefore the truth which
meets the reader on planes he had not imagined.
Armed with this gift
of understanding truth in the affairs of God, Man and
creation, the writer embarks on this thrill adventure
of creative writing. Fiction it may be but it is not
falsity, nor is it untrue. It is of the essence and substance
of human living under the grace of the God who gives
wisdom of the highest and yet most practical sort. Anguish
and suffering there may well be in good writing-and indeed
shall be-but the writing will be true and the fruits
of reading will be rich.
If I could recall
that listening class of many years ago, away in that
inland setting and were able to retail this paper to
them, then it is possible they could be led into this
broad way of truth. I do not know. I only ask the reader
of his article to contemplate it, chew the cud in regard
to it, and then at least to paddle in the waters which
are shallow at the shore, but may well have rewards in
reaching where the same waters are as deep as the ocean
of God.
Geoffrey Bingham, 27th
December 2000
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