Review of David Malouf, by Don Randall

Abstract

Concluding a 2003 lecture series for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the First Nations writer Thomas King says 'the truth about stories is that that's all we are'. He then quotes Ben Okri, the Nigerian author, who claims that while 'we live by stories, we also live in them'. Identifying a story, in this case, also locates the ethics of those who tell it, the relationships they see between the observer and what is observed. The problem, of course, is that our own stories, as we live in them, are difficult to apprehend: the tools we have for understanding them, from the simplest grammar to the most complex theory, are likewise stories we tell about ourselves.