To love, or not to love fantasy

[Cúdae]

So many thoughts, so little time. I return to this thread after a few days of way too much Christmas spirit and fan-fiction finishing and I find far more insights than I ever expected!

Great posts everyone!

On the subject of realism or not-so-realism, I will say, you can find realism in any book under the sun. When people say fantasy has no realism, I take it upon myself to ask them how a book can be written without some element of realism. A writer is a real person, in the real world (well, maybe not some of the crazier ones...like Emily Dickinson, but I won't go there), and the real world is reflected in writing. That's where the whole time period thing comes from. A book will reflect the real time it was written in. Hence the differences between between Shakespeare, Charles Dickins, and Tolkien. They all reflected the real world of their time in their writing. So maybe the fantasy books are all pretty much pond scum now because the world we live in is pretty much pond scum too. But then again, Tolkien's world was probably pond scummy too. But pond scummy in an entirely different way. He didn't have to deal with internet scum, and telemarketer scum, and nuclear plant down the street scum...

On the question of escapism... Fiction is, by generally accepted definition, entirely or partially imagined events. Historical fiction would be the exception into the area of "partially" imagined. So, isn't all fiction an escape then? What's the difference between escaping into fantasy and escaping into romance? Nothing, if you ask me, besides that fact that you are probably far more likely to find somebody using a gun not a bow in a romance novel.

And on the subject of guns versus swords (which of course I can't keep my mouth shut about)... I hate guns as well and view swords as honorable. I know there are dirty tricks in swordfighting, but something seems more honorable about fighting someone face to face rather than behind a barrier using a bazooka and never looking your enemy in the face. It's all about eye contact. The eyes are the window to the soul and when you look your enemy in the eyes, you might just understand a little more about him.
I think I'll stop there.

And one more thing... Fantasy is not science fiction but science fiction can be fantasy and vice versa while overlapping romance with non-fiction and eating a candy bar at the same time.
That is from my eigth grade literature class. I've never forgotten it. Makes very little sense, but perfect sense at the same time.

I apologize for the confused nature of this post. Christmas is getting to me.

[ December 20, 2002: Message edited by: Cúdae ]