In 1968, Leonard Fife, the protagonist of Russell Banks’ new novel “Foregone,” immigrated to Canada from the United States.
Fife is now in his late seventies, with only a few days left before succumbing to cancer. Banks, on the other hand, goes a step further, writing that “everything in the book is designed to blur the line between fact and fiction.”
The dialogue, which is not in quotation marks, merges with the exposition. According to Banks, it becomes clear that Fife is fabricating his story, borrowing elements of his secret past from other people he knows and stories he has heard.
The exposition merges with the dialogue, which is not in quotation marks. Fife, according to Banks, is fabricating his story, borrowing elements of his secret past from other people he knows and stories he has heard.
According to Banks, the novel subtly questions not only the veracity of Fife’s memories, but the nature of veracity itself. According to Banks, it’s “not quite fiction but, like fiction, reductive, selective, structured by intent and desire as well as the age-old impossible-to-escape conventions of storytelling.”
The book is $24.99. It is published by St. Martin’s Books.
Banks examines not only the dichotomy between truth and fiction but also the impossibility of the singular truth, by bringing Fife’s story to light.
Picture and News Source: Toronto Star
