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Down By Our Vineyard
Synopsis and contents
Preface
There was a time when I could write a conventional fiction story, or play or a
non-fiction treatment of a subject and not hopelessly confuse the two. As my
life became progressively more surreal, I realized that I only maintained this
distinction in my writing, really to please some imagined editor or literary
agent so that I might fit more neatly into some pre- supposed rather Kantian
inspired category, a nice marketing niche, when in fact, the work itself was
driving itself in a different direction altogether, one in which the
metaphorical and actual storylines move in parallel and are not mutually
exclusive but rather complementary. As the old mediaeval alchemists used to say,
‘as above, so below’. Like the impressionist Monet, whom I reference in the
vineyard section, the intent of this approach was not to obfuscate or mislead
but rather to illuminate thru the conceit. Nevertheless, it can reasonably be
contended that an author has a responsibility not necessarily incumbent on the
visual artist to distinguish works of intended truth from those of intended
falsity. Rest assured, there is in reality, for any reader not adhering strictly
to a Cliff Notes version of this, little chance of confusing the two as they are
clearly demarcated by style, placement and bounded by Chapter or Section
headings. I could as easily have indicated by a letter code at the beginning of
each chapter ’T’ or ‘F’, but this would be somewhat missing the literary point
and mitigate against the stated goal of having it cohere in the reader’s mind as
a whole ‘montage’, to borrow a term from yet another inhabitant of the book.
Hence, you will find within this work, pure fiction, fantasy, historically
factual well researched accounts, memoir, biography, contemporary history and in
fact if you look hard enough, you could probably find every contemporary genre
except perhaps cartoons or milk carton lost children ads. More seriously, as in
folk art, it is not a work that is woven on a loom but a quilt composed of
patches that make a whole. The patches themselves each tell a story and cohere
around their own internal logic as well as contributing to the whole. Whether
this constitutes a new genre in itself a merely a confusing melange of old ones,
a bulletin board of the mind sans thumbtacks, time will tell.
If in fact this approach makes the work unmarketable as the recent flap about
the veracity of a memoir would indicate, so be it. If on the other hand it opens
the door to understanding the part our own personal histories plays as integral
to any artistic work we create, then I have accomplished something.
The proof will be in the pudding, and if on the whole the experience proves
enjoyable for the reader, as well as somewhat edifying, than I have accomplished
my goal.
In Vinum Veritas, --there’s truth in the grape.
