Is Fantasy a dream or an escape?

[Kalessin]

Good post, Littleman, and I tend to agree with you about the technocracy of rational science [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img].

However, I don't think that dream or escape are inherent qualities OF fantasy, to which either children, adults or other might more readily respond. Rather, they are qualities of our experience of art (or life) - it is OUR choice to make fantasy literature the gateway to this kind of experience. Those people who do not like fantasy literature (and there is plenty in the genre that I don't like) are still able to dream, to find escape. Crime novels etc. are just as much an escape ... or 'escapist', if you prefer.

Perhaps it is literature itself that is imbued with the potential for dream and escape - unlike cinema, where the images, scale and characterisation is imposed upon the audience, in (good) literature we are compelled to create our own pictures and scenes to make sense of the narrative. But, in some ways, that is maybe a little bit harder work [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img].

So the real difference is arguably not between adults or children, but between those who are willing and ready to interact with literature, and those who want it on a plate. The awareness of 'suspending disbelief' or 'switching on the imagination', as a precursor to enjoyment, to dream and escape, is the issue.

A good story is a good story, whether it involves Salty Loincloth and the Quest for the Flying Pelican or not. But it only works if we listen with open minds (is that a bit zen? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img])

Peace [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Kalessin