Philip Pullman, the Carnegie Medal winner and internationally celebrated author of novels including the trilogy His Dark Materials, has remarked that “after nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
Whatever our cultural or linguistic background, we can all claim some knowledge of the lives of others, and this knowledge has reached us through stories.
These stories may have been told by an animated grandparent; maybe we heard them on the radio or encountered them during a religious-studies lesson at school, where we learned about the lives and times of saints, gods, and goddesses.
The literature and history classes that have made the longest-lasting impressions on me are those in which I was allowed a glimpse of the life story of a writer or when my teacher focused on the human stories of the period being taught, peeling away the layers to reveal something of the ordinary life or emotional experiences of the towering figures whose conquests or defeats we were studying or, more poignantly, about the ordinary lives and emotional experiences of the common people of the time.
It really did not matter whether these peripheral accounts were tenuous or apocryphal, since their inclusion in the lesson made the whole episode under scrutiny more gripping and memorable.
Stories need not always refer to the great or the good or the legendary.
In our own daily lives, we continually share snapshots of our social experiences with ever-expanding and overlapping circles of acquaintances.
We ritualistically mark an occasion, such as a significant birthday, an anniversary, or a remembrance, by concentrating on stories that subtly and carefully bring to the fore an individual’s vulnerabilities, passions, and idiosyncrasies.
Like master storytellers of the past, we edit out the unnecessary infelicities and shine our light on the unforgettable characteristics and achievements we are witness to and, in the process, create yet another indelible sub story, some of which may be told in years and even generations to come.
