“Fiction is the lie that tells the truth” Neil Gaiman.
Good stories have the power to change lives. As a young person, I read widely (still do) and discovered that I was not alone in my frustration about the human condition—mine in particular. One very short story that knocked my socks off was “Araby,” number three in a collection called Dubliners by James Joyce.
The narrator, a pre-teen boy, is infatuated with the pretty sister of a friend. When she finely pays him a bit of attention, he finds out it’s for selfish reasons, nothing to do with him. The moral of the story, all is vanity, comes right out of the Book of Ecclesiastes.
So how does it fit into a discussion of Christian fiction? Before answering, it’s interesting to note that the last story in Dubliners depicts a middle-aged man who struggles with precisely the same problem as the twelve-year-old in Araby, the problem of sin, which the atheist Joyce was never able to solve. Reading widely requires a bit of sophistication, but is hardly a waste. Works based on truth only reinforce the ultimate truth that Jesus “has set us free from the law of sin and death.” Ro. 8:2.
Here is a link to the story: Araby.pdf
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Have a wonderful month!
