"Let me tell you a secret: the name of the greatest living writer of the generation born in the sixties is Yann Martel." —L'Humanité "A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction and its human creators, and in the original power of storytellers like Martel." —Los Angeles Times Book Review

b. 1963 - Spain First published The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, a collection of short stories Writing career took off with Life of Pi Mann Booker Best seller; 41 languages Movie 4 Academy Awards Yann Martel Born in 1963 to Canadian parents while living in Spain First published The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, a collection of short stories

Setting: The Emergency. Indira Gandhi was India’s Prime Minister - 1966 Election scandal State of Emergency New Elections Life of Pi is set against the tumultuous period of Indian history known as the Emergency. - a shrewd politician In 1975, she was found guilty of charges related to her 1971 election campaign and was ordered to resign. Instead, Gandhi declared a state of emergency, suspending constitutional rights and giving herself the power to rule by decree. The Emergency lasted for eighteen months and was officially ended in March 1977 when Gandhi called for a new round of elections, which she lost.

Stop in Tomatlán, Mexico Pi’s father - nervous. Moving to Canada Stop in Tomatlán, Mexico In Life of Pi, Piscine (Pi) Molitor Patel's father, a zookeeper in Pondicherry, India, grows nervous about the current political situation. Speculating that Gandhi might try to take over his zoo and faced with depressing economic conditions, Pi's father decides to sell off his zoo animals and move his family to Canada, thus setting the main action of the novel into motion.

“A story that will make you believe in God.” Impact of Setting Religion “A story that will make you believe in God.” Link between stories and religious beliefs. Though only a relatively brief section of Life of Pi is actually set in India, the country's eclectic makeup is reflected throughout the novel. Pi is raised as a Hindu but as a young boy discovers both Christianity and Islam and decides to practice all three religions simultaneously. In the Author's Note, an elderly Indian man describes the story of Pi as “a story that will make you believe in God.” Stories and religious beliefs are also linked in Life of Pi because Pi asserts that both require faith on the part of the listener or devotee

-India's diverse culture is further reflected in Martel's choice of Pondicherry as a setting. -India was a British colony for nearly two hundred years -Pondicherry, a tiny city in southern India, was once the capital of French India and as such has retained a uniquely French flavor that sets it apart from the rest of the nation. -Pi Patel begins his life in a diverse cultural setting before encountering French, Mexican, Japanese, and Canadian characters along his journey.

The French Quarter: Pondicherry, India

Munnar, one of the Hill Stations in India

Pondicherry Botanical Gardens

The Pondicherry Promenade

Life of Pi can be classified as: a postcolonial novel a work of magical realism a coming-of-age tale an adventure story flirts with nonfiction -postcolonial novel (literature produced in countries that once were colonies of other countries, especially of the European colonial powers Britain, France, and Spain), because of its post-Independence Indian setting as well as its Canadian authorship -a work of magical realism, because fantastical elements—such as animals with human personalities (anthropomorphism) or an island with cannibalistic trees—appear in an otherwise realistic setting -a bildungsroman, a coming-of-age tale -an adventure story -It even flirts with nonfiction genres the Author's Note claims that the story of Pi is a true story that the author heard while backpacking through Pondicherry and the novel, with its first-person narrator, is structured as a memoir at the end of the novel, look for interview transcripts, another genre of nonfiction writing

The Importance of Storytelling A story… within a story… within a story 3 Frames First, author’s note Then, life on sea Then, true(?) story -The novel is framed by a (fictional) note from the author who describes how he first came to hear the fantastic tale of Piscine Molitor Patel. -Within the framework of Martel's narration is Pi's fantastical first-person account of life on the open sea, which forms the bulk of the book. -At the end of the novel, a transcript taken from an interrogation of Pi reveals the possible “true” story within that story.

Motifs (situations, incidents, ideas, or images repeated significantly in a literary work) Territorial dominance Though Martel's text deals with the seemingly boundless nature of the sea, it also studies the strictness of boundaries, borders, and demarcations. The Will to Live This is a story about what humans will do to stay alive The Nature of Truth By the end of the story, readers question factual truth versus metaphoric truth. The Nature of Faith characters achieve comfort through the practice of rituals For Pi, faith is a form of certainty; he dislikes agnostics because they refuse to commit -Life of Pi is a story about struggling to survive through seemingly insurmountable odds -As Martel makes clear in his novel, living creatures will often do extraordinary, unexpected, and sometimes heroic things to survive -However, they will also do shameful and barbaric things if pressed

Symbols The color orange Pi’s name Not just a shortened version of Piscine Allegorical figure with multiple levels of meaning 3.14 (22/7) (infinity) The color orange symbolizes hope and survival Allegory - a narrative that serves as an extended metaphor