Thursday, November 4, 2010
Fish...Fish everywhere
Actually, contrary to the title, there are very few instances of fish so far besides the "book of fish" that has pages made from fish skin. So far, we are thrown into the world of Sid Hammet. It is a world of poverty and desperation. We learn that the main character and his compatriots make their living by scamming tourists into buying fake antiques. The funny thing is the relationship between Sid and the tourists. In fact, Sid goes as far as saying that these rich tourists want to spend money on an antique to satisfy their preconceptions. Sid and friends make up stories to suit the needs of the tourists. Whats even more funny is when they are hit with lawsuits not from the scammed tourists but from legit antique stores that are losing business to these fakers. However, I feel like most of this is background before the actual story begins, which of course is when Sid finds and is changed by the book of fish in a meat fridge. The first big event in the novel is Sid's attempt at trying to pin Gould as the author of the book. He talked to professors, publishers, librarians etc but every time the details in the book do not match historical records. I think this is a very important point. The historical records are most likely all from the point of view of people who keep records of prisons while Gould's book of fish is a record from the prisoner himself. The difference in accounts relates to the common phrase "History is written by the winners." I'm not sure who said this originally but there are many variations of this phrase with the same general idea. one of the implications of the phrase is that much of the the culture and identity of conquered peoples are lost through destruction by the conquerors. Another implication is that historical records are filtered through the lens of the victors. I think Gould's book of fish fits with the latter implication. That the written records show the point of view of prison guards and wardens that may try to alter the actual events at the prison to make themselves look good.
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The quote you mentioned is one of my favorites and has big historical implications. I think I first came across it while playing Rome: Total War. Anyway, I find it humorous how more often than not, tourists do not go places to explore or be taught, but rather to seek out their preconceived notions of places. The narrator exploits the fact tourists are looking for things, rather than allowing the facts and features of places to find them.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit though, I am a bit disappointed that the book has since deviated from the idea of being a con artist. That would have been an awesome story.
I was thinking the exact same thing when I began reading the novel about there not being anything about fish. I thought it was going to be about a fisherman or something that wrote a lot about the fish he caught and instead it ended up being about an obsessive man over a weird book.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about the contents that the book contained. I think that what was written was the "true" history of what happened and not the edited version which is what most people have heard and is why they believe this book is a fake. Also, it probably gives people an uneasy feeling when they read it and they probably just want to make themselves feel better by saying that it is fake. I also thought that the people were kinda accusing Sid of writing it himself to simply get attention or something. However, we once again also see a kind of supernatural thing come into play when the book disappears sooooo maybe it was written by someone/something supernatural and that is why there is no record...who knows?