Editing Life of Pi (section)

== Inspiration ==

Martel said in a 2002 interview with PBS that he was "looking for a story… that would direct my life".<ref>{{cite interview |last= Martel |first= Yann |subject-link= Yann Martel |title = Conversation: Life of PI| url = https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment-july-dec02-martel_11-11/ |interviewer= [[Ray Suarez]] |work= [[PBS NewsHour]] |publisher= PBS |date= 11 November 2002 |access-date=16 January 2015}}</ref> He spoke of being lonely and needing direction in his life, and he found that writing the novel met this need.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article817994.ece | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110905112739/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article817994.ece | url-status = dead | archive-date = September 5, 2011 |last=Martel |first=Yann |author-link=Yann Martel | title = Triumph of a castaway adrift in the sea of his imagination |work=The Sunday Times |location=UK |access-date=19 October 2010 |date=27 October 2002}}</ref>

=== Richard Parker and shipwreck narratives ===

The name Richard Parker for the tiger was inspired by a character in [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s nautical adventure novel ''[[The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]]'' (1838). Richard Parker is a mutineer who is stranded and eventually cannibalized on the hull of an overturned ship, and there is a dog aboard who is named Tiger. Martel also had another occurrence in mind in the famous legal case ''[[R v Dudley and Stephens]]'' (1884), where a shipwreck again results in the cannibalism of a cabin boy named Richard Parker, this time in a lifeboat.<ref>[http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2012/07/nautical-coincidence-lifeboat-morality-richard-parker-and-the-mignonette/ Oldsaltblog.com]</ref> A third Richard Parker drowned in the sinking of the ''[[Francis Spaight]]'' in 1846, with a cabin boy cannibalized during an incident involving the same ship in 1835.<ref>{{cite book | last = Simpson | first = A. W. B. | author-link = A. W. B. Simpson | date = 1984 | title = Cannibalism and the Common Law: The Story of the Tragic Last Voyage of the Mignonette and the Strange Legal Proceedings to Which It Gave Rise | location = Chicago | publisher = University of Chicago Press | pages = 128–135 | isbn = 0-226-75942-3}}</ref> "So many victimized Richard Parkers had to mean something", Martel suggested.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.canongate.net/News/BehindLifeOfPi | title = Yann Martel on tigers, cannibals and Edgar Allan Poe |date=14 May 2002 |publisher=[[Canongate Books]] |access-date=1 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318173941/http://www.canongate.net/News/BehindLifeOfPi |archive-date=18 March 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=309590 | title = How Richard Parker Came to Get His Name |author=Martel, Yann |author-link=Yann Martel |publisher=Amazon.com |access-date=1 September 2010}}</ref>

=== Moacyr Scliar ===

Martel has mentioned that a book review of Brazilian author [[Moacyr Scliar]]'s 1981 novella ''[[Max and the Cats]]'' accounts in part for his novel's premise. Scliar's story describes a Jewish German refugee crossing the Atlantic Ocean with a jaguar in his boat.<ref name="powells">{{cite web |url=http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html |title=From the Author&nbsp;– Yann Martel&nbsp;– Powell's Books |publisher=Powells.com |access-date=2012-12-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114040757/http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html |archive-date=14 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/11/books/books-of-the-times-fleeing-the-nazis-with-a-jaguar-that-may-be-real.html | title = Books of The Times; Fleeing the Nazis With a Jaguar That May Be Real | last=Mitgang | first=Herbert | author-link=Herbert Mitgang |date=11 July 1990 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2 September 2010}}</ref> Scliar said that he was perplexed that Martel "used the idea without consulting or even informing me," and indicated that he was reviewing the situation before deciding whether to take any action in response.<ref name="Rohter furor">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/books/tiger-in-a-lifeboat-panther-in-a-lifeboat-a-furor-over-a-novel.html?pagewanted=all |title=Tiger in a Lifeboat, Panther in a Lifeboat: A Furor Over a Novel |last=Rohter |first= Larry |author-link=Larry Rohter |date=11 July 1990 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Só um empréstimo? {{!}} O mote do livro que ganhou o Booker Prize é uma história do gaúcho Moacyr Scliar |trans-title=Just a loan? {{!}} The motto of the book that won the Booker Prize is a story by Moacyr Scliar from Rio Grande do Sul |url=http://veja.abril.com.br/061102/p_128.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225003141/http://veja.abril.com.br:80/061102/p_128.html |archive-date=December 25, 2014 |access-date=December 24, 2022 |website=[[Veja (magazine)|Veja.abril.com.br]] |language=Portuguese |date=November 6, 2002}}</ref> After talking with Martel, Scliar elected not to pursue the matter.<ref>{{cite interview |first=Moacyr |last=Scliar |subject-link=Moacyr Scliar |interviewer=Eleanor Wachtel |title=Writers & Company |publisher=CBC Radio 1 |date=16 July 2006}}</ref> A dedication to Scliar "for the spark of life" appears in the author's note of ''Life of Pi''. Literary reviews have described the similarities as superficial between ''Life of Pi'' and ''Max and the Cats''. Reviewer Peter Yan wrote: "Reading the two books side-by-side, one realizes how inadequate bald plot summaries are in conveying the unique imaginative impact of each book,"<ref name="BooksInCanada">{{cite web|url=http://www.booksincanada.com/article_view.asp?id=4377 |title=Review |publisher=Books in Canada |access-date=2012-12-30}}</ref> and noted that Martel's distinctive narrative structure is not found in Scliar's novella. The themes of the books are also dissimilar, with ''Max and the Cats'' being a metaphor for [[Nazism]].<ref name="SLC volue 29">{{cite journal|url=http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/12746/13689 |title="Hollow at the core": Deconstructing Yann Martel's Life of Pi &#124; Stratton &#124; Studies in Canadian Literature |journal=Studies in Canadian Literature |date=6 June 2004 |publisher=Journals.hil.unb.ca |access-date=2012-12-30|last1=Stratton |first1=Florence }}</ref> In ''Life of Pi'', 211 of 354 pages are devoted to Pi's experience in the lifeboat, compared to 17 of 99 pages in ''Max and the Cats'' depicting time spent in a lifeboat.<ref name="SLC volue 29" />