"Masquerade"
All fiction is a masquerade. We writers adopt disguises: we flirt, feign and play, and the story is the mask we wear. Behind every fiction, though, is fact. Behind every white page, the red of real life bleeds through . . .
A mask allows the wearer to say what otherwise they cannot, perhaps because of political fears or private reluctance. 'Man is least himself when he talks in his own person,' wrote Oscar Wilde. 'Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.' Truth is not the opposite of fiction: it is the fire at its heart. Fiction tells its truths slanted in metaphor and disguised with masks. But, crucially, the disguise discloses meaning: the mask unmasks deeper truths. In this, and in so many ways, the mask is a maestro of paradox. It covers and uncovers. It offers both shelter and licence. The mask can collapse space so the moon is within kissing distance, and can tumble time so a hundred years is yesterday, and the future is in our hands now.
They say that art mirrors life. I am interested in the way we artists can trick life into imitating art. I wanted to explore a singular grief in my life and to rewrite my own script. To transform grief to transcendence, turning bitter water into wine.
Artists weave their past into their work . . . With my book, I wanted to write my future: to write it in order to make it come true. If writing the past is an act of memory, and writing the present an act of confession, then mine is a spell. If you stencil your dreams on the walls, you can walk through them. Anyone can, though writers make their spells literal.
JAY GRIFFITHSExtract from 'Masks of Fiction', Griffith Review 34
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Masquerade
Short StoryAll fiction is a masquerade... ~ Jay Griffiths. Short stories that I have written throughout the years, all in one place. I might be feeding you the truth or lies. You'll never know. Read at your own risk. P.S The ones with a heart at the start of...
