Stranger than fiction
Stranger than fiction is the title of the movie I would really like to see. Why, you may ask me? Well, Books & Culture calls it the most profoundly theological film of 2006. In 1941, Dorothy L. Sayers published the now famous The Mind of the Maker, a work which suggests that the relationship between an author and her creations parallels the relationship between God and human creation. I have tried reading this book on several occasions, but its sheer depth has made me stop until I find a more appropriate time. Sayers suggests that the relationship between the writer’s idea and its fulfillment in the written word parallels the relationship between Creator God and the incarnated Christ. Here are a few quotes from Books & Culture:
Stranger Than Fiction adeptly illustrates her [Sayers’] theory in the relationship between Harold and his maker, Kay. Kay Eiffel (played by Emma Thompson) is a novelist who always kills off her protagonists. At first oblivious to his creator, Harold suddenly becomes aware of a guiding presence in his life. Nevertheless, after his moment of revelation, Harold sometimes hears Kay’s narration and other times does not, just as we are sometimes intensely conscious of God’s guiding presence in our lives and other times not. Reminiscent of Jesus’ prayer of angst in the garden of Gethsemane, Harold pleads with Kay to spare his life. But upon reading his maker’s book, Harold submits his life to his narrator’s will, telling her, “I love [the story]. There is only one way it can end. I love your book.” Therefore, just as Jesus “set his face toward Jerusalem” and his inevitable death, we watch with intrigue as Harold calmly, with resignation, prepares to die.
Wow, that has left me salivating. I hope my rental shop carries it.