“But that’s just a story,” said Luka faintly.
“Just a story?” echoed Nobodaddy in what sounded like genuine horror. “Only a tale? My ears must be deceiving me. Surely, young whippersnapper, you can’t have made so foolish a remark. After all, you yourself are a Drip from the Ocean of Notions, a short Blurt from the Shah of Blah. You of all boys should know that Man is the Storytelling Animal, and that in stories are his identity, his meaning and his lifeblood. Do rats tell stories? Do porpoises have narrative purposes? Do elephants ele-phantasize? You know as well as I do that they do not. Man alone burns with books.”
Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie, page 34.
Wow, what a line. “Man alone burns with books.” Like my friend Chris said, it’s epic.
I've continued hearing outstanding things about Rushdie. This passage, however, really grabbed me.
I seriously have to read this….but must read Haroun first :p