Yann Martel Quotes
Zoo is an artificial territory, an approximation. Civilization is our natural territory.
Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Harcourt, 2001.
The Smithsonian had started a “Department of Living Animals” and had 172 at the time whereas earlier all animals were stuffed. At the time no one was quite sure whether or not there would be any public interest in a zoo. This initial request for $200,000 to buy property on which to place the zoo was turned down as historically zoos were created by royalty and the very rich and didn’t seem democratic to many members of the House. Others however, saw the role of democracy as bringing to ordinary people what had historically been available only to royalty and the wealthy. That view eventually prevailed in America, and the National Zoo is a destination for millions of Americans and foreign tourists. In the next session of Congress, the House reversed itself and voted the appropriation for the National Zoo. See {629320}.
While not intended as such, this is a great illustration of the complexity of the survival of the fittest concept. Buffet, the top of the heap in the modern industrial democracy, if in a different kind of culture and environment would probably not even survive to breed.
Yann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi, an international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spent more than a year on the bestseller lists of the New York Times and The Globe and Mail, among many other best-selling lists. It was adapted for a film directed by Ang Lee, garnering four Oscars including Best Director and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
