The Young Romantic: Portrait of Yundi

Historical Context:

When he was three-years-old, Yundi Li became so entranced with an accordion player in a mall that he refused to leave. His parents bought him an accordion and set up lessons. In less than a year, he had mastered the instrument and began winning competitions at his music school at age six.

When he was seven, he asked his parents for something that would forever change his life. He asked for piano lessons.

Li quickly proved to be a piano prodigy, winning numerous awards. His most prestigious came at just eighteen when he took first place at the Frederic Chopin Competition in Warsaw in October of 2000. He was the youngest winner and the first Chinese, and, as the competition only awards what the judges deem to have been earned, was the first person to take the gold in fifteen years.

It was here that Yundi Li caught the eye of the world. In a country where there are several thousand piano students striving to the ultimate goal of being a concert pianist, Li became a super-star and a hero. The Young Romantic: Portrait of Yundi follows the piano virtuoso as he prepares, at the age of twenty-five, for his debut performance with the Berlin Philharmonic. 

Pi as a Metaphor for India

The Life of Pi is framed against the period of Indian history that was known as the Emergency.  Indira Gandhi, called Mrs. Gandhi in the book, declared a state of emergency when she was called to resign, suspending the constitution and justifying it by calling it a response to rising protects against the government. Lasting for 18 months, the Emergency left a confused legacy: while liberty was severely limited and political opponents to Mrs. Gandhi  were jailed, the economy flourished. It is under these circumstances that Pi’s father grows nervous. According to Pi, “to prosper, a zoo needs parliamentary government, democratic elections, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of association, rule of law and everything else enshrined in India’s constitution.” The Emergency had none of these, and for this reason Pi’s father decides to leave India, putting in motion the main events of the book.

Pi is an interesting amalgamation of religion and culture. He is a practicing member of Hindu, Islam, and Christianity, was born in formerly-French Pondicherry, ends up on the coast of Mexico and spends the rest of his life in Canada. Pi seems to be a metaphor for India itself, with its diversity of religions and culture. He offers an interesting viewpoint on Indian spirituality. The three religions do live in close quarters inside the borders of that country, and Pi seems to be saying, “Look! Harmony can be achieved. We all believe in God, we are more similar than you think.”

Life of Pi Great Works

Life of Pi by Yann Martel was published in 2002 and has since won the Man Booker prize for writing. This seemingly new novel has made the great works list for science because of its intense use of scientific themes, as well as because of Martel’s scientific style of writing. Martel continually questions the role of religion in such a scientific world. Martel’s immense discussion of religion, amongst his use of such a scientific story, brings to pass many themes that relate and distinguish the differences and similarities between science and religion.

Within Life of Pi there many themes stand out concerning science and religion: the most being credibility of logical science versus faith and religion. Pi lives most of his life in the faith of many religions. Pi’s odd open-mindedness allows him to pick out pieces of truth from all religions, while not being entirely apart of any faith. Pi, however, was also raised in a very scientific way; forced to learn many scientific facts about animals resulting from his dad being a zookeeper from India. When Pi becomes stranded on the life boat, it becomes evident the need for both faith in religion, and a use of practical science. Pi begins by immediately falling into despair and depression. Feeling a sense of hopelessness, Pi faces the reality that his family is dead. Instead of being consumed in his feelings, Pi demonstrates an immense faith in his knowledge of religion, enabling his to power through these feelings. Pi soon realizes, however, that pure faith alone is not going to get him out of this situation; Pi must struggle himself to fix his own problems. Pi immediately begins making observations, recording ideas and sightings in a journal, and using them to make predictions about the best way to survive on a life boat. Pi uses this scientific method when he trains Richard Parker, finds ways to stay hydrated and get food and to just stay alive. Pi, however, also knows that science alone will not get him through his struggle: he must continue to use faith. By using faith and prayer to keep him sane, and logical science to fix seemingly impossible problems, Pi is able to overcome many challenges on the life boat, that otherwise would have led to death.