Die hoofkarakter, Pi, ervaar God en sy wêreld deur teenoorgesteldes wat ’n geheel daarstel. Geestelikheid – soos waarheid en leuens – verwys na iets wat taal transendeer. Maar Life of Pi handel nie net oor waarheid nie, dit ondersoek ook geestelikheid. Ek illustreer hoe name en die karakters waarna hulle verwys emblematies is van stories en die gebeure waarna hulle verwys. Die roman wys dat woorde en stories nie die waarheid kan vasvang nie. Waarheid en leuens is bloot verskillende maniere om te verwys na verskynsels wat taal ten diepste transendeer. Ek voer aan dat name in die roman verband hou met ’n digotomie na aan die hart van die roman, naamlik wat dinge is, en wat hulle genoem word. Hierdie artikel lig verbande uit tussen die name en die herbenaming van karakters, en die roman se tematiek ten opsigte van vertelling en waarheid. The analysis of names in this novel illuminates the intersection between, stories, truth and spirituality.Īspekte van geestelikheid en die postmodernisme van Yann Martel se Life of Pi is reeds in die literatuur ondersoek, maar die eienaardige name van die karakters in die boek is nog nie in enige diepte ontleed nie. The protagonist, Pi, experiences his world and God through opposites that make up a whole. But Life of Pi is not merely a book about truth, it is also about spirituality, which, like truth and lies, is premised on the existence of something beyond language. I examine ways in which names and the characters they denote are emblematic of stories and the events they denote. The novel casts doubt on the ability of words and stories to capture truth, actual events and actions. Truth and lies become just different ways to describe phenomena whose deepest reality exists beyond language. This study links the names and (re)namings to the novel’s thematic concern with storytelling and truth, arguing that names go to the heart of one of the novel’s main thematic concerns, namely the dichotomy between what things are and what they are called. Although scholarship has reflected on aspects of spirituality and postmodernism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, the curious and colourful names of the characters have not yet been investigated in any depth.
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