The Canada Council of the Arts has a long history of supporting “Canadian” work, but it may have been bamboozled by Yann Martel. Although Life of Pi, his 2001 novel, flatters the Canadian ego by presenting Canada as safe haven for refugees, which is a remarkable zoological fact, since no other animal species is known to have groups that welcome “foreigners.” Still, there is much irony here. Martel makes Canada a refuge from Ghandi’s noble experiment and, on the surface, has little to say about Canada.
Pi, or Piscine Molitor Patel, is the living embodiment of the liberal, new age belief that all religions are essentially the same goodness. Thus, Piscine practices and believes three religions simultaneously, without prejudice. Wow. How Canadian is that? In Canada, land of the multicultural dream, where different cultures are encouraged to co-exist, such feats almost seem possible, even while religious leaders make no effort to share temples, harmonize doctrine, integrate a bit and not be so damned territorial.
In the multicultural experiment, baboons, zebras, hyenas and tigers co-exist with humans. Actually, that’s not quite true. While various cultures do exist in Canada, it’s largely as décor; the real substance of Canada’s culture is cannibalism—I mean the dog-eat-dog market place of the capitalist system. Anyone who can’t handle it can jump onto the social safety net—i.e. the raft, and feed on Norwegian biscuits (Norway is a rather socialist country).
We have about as much chance of turning our minds into havens for the peaceful co-existence of three distinct religions as we have in co-existing with a Bengal tiger on a lifeboat.
We are all animals. Even in Canada, we have yet to evolve a distinctly human social-political structure. We are still unable to live with alpha leaders and territorialism. Our Prime Minister is our Supreme Circus Director, or a kind of French cook who oversees the devouring of our mother, I mean the Earth. The corporate clan leaders are so many hyenas, or, wait, so many animal tamers who control their willing employees by rationing out token wages.
The Author’s Note warns readers that Life of Pi is “a story that will make you believe in God,” but that was a fine joke. Consider what happens to Piscine’s religious fever? It peaks, regresses into medievalism and obsessive praying as his physical condition deteriorates and as soon as his condition improves, he is miraculously cured, and God gets no thanks from him for his rescue. For that he has already thanked Reason and the imagination that entertained us.
The sinking of the Tsimtsum does not bode well for religion or mysticism, as a good Kabbalist—I mean terminologist—should recognize.
Has Yann Martel pulled the wool over our eyes? Thrown a lemon-pie-fable at our politicians? He’s written a courageous book with many parallels to great literature, jokes for philosophers and a fabulous fable the conflict between religion and zoology, reason and imagination, reality and fantasy … conflicts with no proffered resolution, and where Canada, refuge of machines and bricks, is an illusion.
