The brave new world of faction
 Until you attain the truth, you will not be able to amend it. But
if you do not amend it, you will not attain it. Meanwhile do not resign
yourself.
- The Book of Exhortations
Nobel Prize winning Portuguese writer José Saramago begins his novel
The History of the Siege of Lisbon with this quote and further explains
that history could have been written in many different ways and the idea
of infinitude and variation are the essence of his writing.
Saramago’s theme provides the perfect setting for what we attempt to
discuss this week, as I managed to find time to explore the Galle
Literary Festival (GLF) this year, on its third day, January 31.
In a speech titled ‘Playing Fast And Loose With History’ renowned
British historian Antony Beevor discussed the rise of the conspiracy
theory, and the world of faction – as something in between fact and
fiction.
He commented on the need to keep the historic record straight and to
ensure that a perfect distinction is drawn between fact and its use
within fiction and for instance, the need to recreate the reality of war
amid the distortion of propaganda and myth.
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Antony Beevor |
Beevor stated that although the film version of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci
Code was truly pathetic, it is amazing how, over half the British nation
was convinced that Mary Madeleine had a child by Jesus and also the
belief in the continuation of the Jesus bloodline.
Furthermore, he stated that contemporary documentary film makers have
a tendency of adopting the techniques of Hollywood, taking on the new
film making technology of computer generated imaging combined with
dramatic reconstructions played by movie actors.
Thereby, faces of historic figures are redone and new moving-image
material produced, appearing quite real and distorting the factual
historical records, in years to come.
As the term fictional documentary is introduced, the pseudo
documentary format results in a disturbing new formation which possibly
leads to the manipulation of historical fact. It is worrying that this
brave new world of faction entertainment will have a free hand in
manipulating history, he stated.
In this context, counter knowledge, with examples such as, the theory
that AIDS was created in a CIA laboratory, Princess Diana was murdered
by the British Intelligence Service, and 9/11 was orchestrated by the
Bush administration, show the extend to which these theories have taken
root.
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Michael Frayn |
A belief that any individual has the right to change the truth
according to their own beliefs is the democratic ideal taken to quite an
extreme. But in reality it is the opposite of democracy, Beevor stated.
The commercial potential of counter knowledge and pseudo-history is
huge. It sells newspapers and increase ratings, easily persuading media
organizations to revel in these controversial theories. This in turn
results in more and more people having trouble distinguishing fact from
fiction.
Antony Beevor’s concluding remarks were that a dramatic decline of
traditional moral and religious beliefs combined with a desperate need
to believe intensely in something could be the reason for this state of
affairs.
In a later session, journalist, novelist, and playwright Michael
Frayn discussed the impact fiction and reality can have on each other in
a speech titled ‘Noises On’.
Discussing the writing of his play Copenhagen which raised many
contradictory views once it was staged and resulted in the surfacing of
embargoed historical material and a re-look at history itself and also
at people’s beliefs on what was considered historical knowledge,
Frayn explained how perceptions had coloured his views too, until
early correspondence surrounding the incidents upon which his play was
based on, were brought to light.
Commencing his speech stating that one of the chief determinants of
history is what is going on inside the heads of people who participate
in it, in other words, human intention, he went on to explain how
illusive human intention is.
Frayn reiterated that history is not what happened, it is what we
believe to have happened, further stating that the historical record is,
on the whole, a piece of fiction.
In this interesting account of history as, possibly, a created
entity, we can see how it is a combination of the knowledge of the
writing system, the presence of the faithful scribe, the power of
safeguarding the written material, that results in the presentation of
the record of what happened, for generations to come.
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