From a purely philosophical POV, you are exactly right. Fiction is by definition untrue.
But the "truth" that I think Davies is talking about has nothing to do with the story, but rather about the ideas behind the story.
The first example that comes into my mind is The Shawshank Redemption. The story is fictional, but it expresses a message that IS real.
Or another example, based on the context surrounding the quote, has to do with the mental state of the author. If a severely depressed person starts to write about suicide, that can be a warning sign that the author is suicidal. The story itself is untrue, but it reveals truth.
2 comments:
Why can't it be both?
If I said, "I killed a man," that is neither true, nor did it happen yet.
To me, if something is ficticious it's not true, and it goes without saying that it didn't happen.
I suppose it's all relative on what you feel the definition of "true" is...
From a purely philosophical POV, you are exactly right. Fiction is by definition untrue.
But the "truth" that I think Davies is talking about has nothing to do with the story, but rather about the ideas behind the story.
The first example that comes into my mind is The Shawshank Redemption. The story is fictional, but it expresses a message that IS real.
Or another example, based on the context surrounding the quote, has to do with the mental state of the author. If a severely depressed person starts to write about suicide, that can be a warning sign that the author is suicidal. The story itself is untrue, but it reveals truth.
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