Storytelling and narration have been foundations in my life, and I never recognized it until recently:
My father used to tell me stories at bedtime. I fell into books like getting sucked into a vortex. I often hid(hide) from reality in the imaginations of my mind. I read books to my kids before bed, and it has become a connection between us as we navigate the lives of fictional characters together.
Like Jonathan Gottschall wrote in the book The Storytelling Animal, How Stories Make Us Human, “Humans live in landscapes of make-believe. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays.” The word “devour” makes me think that we need storytelling as much as we need sustenance.
In this art series called “Narrative”, I have chosen 5 stories that stood out to me in childhood, and in my children’s lives as well. Certain imageries which were crafted by words are still in my mind today. They have shaped the way I interpret the world. I hope you enjoy the readings associated with the drawings I have come up with, because the two go hand in hand.
One of my most beloved books in my childhood was Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It frustrated me that Pinocchio kept making bad choices in his life. Yet at the same time, going to a fair with a fox and cat was intriguing, so I don’t blame him for making those choices! The part of the story that stood out to me most was when Pinocchio went to sea searching for his father who was swallowed by a shark (the Disney movie made it a whale, so now it lives in my memory as a whale). I always imagined how anxious it made me feel to imagine being on a boat in a deep ocean, searching for such a monstrous and majestic animal.
Little by little the sky cleared. The sun came out in full splendor and the sea became as calm as a lake.
Then the Marionette took off his clothes and laid them on the sand to dry. He looked over the waters to see whether he might catch sight of a boat with a little man in it. He searched and he searched, but he saw nothing except sea and sky and far away a few sails, so small that they might have been birds.
“If only I knew the name of this island!” he said to himself. “If I even knew what kind of people I would find here! But whom shall I ask? There is no one here.”
The idea of finding himself in so lonesome a spot made him so sad that he was about to cry, but just then he saw a big Fish swimming near-by, with his head far out of the water.
Not knowing what to call him, the Marionette said to him:
“Hey there, Mr. Fish, may I have a word with you?”
“Even two, if you want,” answered the fish, who happened to be a very polite Dolphin.
“Will you please tell me if, on this island, there are places where one may eat without necessarily being eaten?”
“Surely, there are,” answered the Dolphin. “In fact you’ll find one not far from this spot.”
“And how shall I get there?”
“Take that path on your left and follow your nose. You can’t go wrong.”
“Tell me another thing. You who travel day and night through the sea, did you not perhaps meet a little boat with my father in it?”
“And who is you father?”
“He is the best father in the world, even as I am the worst son that can be found.”
“In the storm of last night,” answered the Dolphin, “the little boat must have been swamped.”
“And my father?”
“By this time, he must have been swallowed by the Terrible Shark, which, for the last few days, has been bringing terror to these waters.”
“Is this Shark very big?” asked Pinocchio, who was beginning to tremble with fright.
“Is he big?” replied the Dolphin. “Just to give you an idea of his size, let me tell you that he is larger than a five story building and that he has a mouth so big and so deep, that a whole train and engine could easily get into it.”
Excerpt of "The Adventures of Pinocchio. Story of a Puppet" by Carlo Collodi, 1883.
