Unlike SiFi a classical fantasy novel doesn't aim for making a statement about the “real world” but for giving us a way to escape it, if only for a short while.
This is interesting (and thanks for commenting!) I am very tired right now, and can't give your response quite the thought it deserves, but I will say this:
Tolkien talked about "consolation" and "escape" being essential parts of fantasy literature as he understood it. But the escape itself was always a commentary on the world that his fantasy world contrasted to - and he also said, in his best- known work:
"Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man's part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house" (the Two Towers, Folio edition, page 40)
It's true he didn't write allegory, but he did expect that his works would be applicable to our world, as, indeed, they are. And -
Most fantasies do comment on right behavior and what it means to be a free, adult person. At least, those are the sorts of fantasies I'm used to reading. Terri-testing has a fascinating essay on her livejournal about fantasy and its role; her conclusion was that Rowling is not writing traditional fantasy at all, but rather horror. I am inclined to agree with her. Even if you don't agree that Rowling's real bent is towards horror, I think it's pretty clear that her magical World is parasitic and intellectually, imaginatively, and morally stunted, as are most of its inhabitants. It's not a good place. And what I was saying with this essay is that perhaps Rowling means us to see that the Magical World is not a good place, and that it tends to stunt its inhabitants in various ways.
More later, when I have the energy. Thanks for reading and commenting!
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Date: 2009-10-17 03:06 am (UTC)This is interesting (and thanks for commenting!) I am very tired right now, and can't give your response quite the thought it deserves, but I will say this:
Tolkien talked about "consolation" and "escape" being essential parts of fantasy literature as he understood it. But the escape itself was always a commentary on the world that his fantasy world contrasted to - and he also said, in his best- known work:
"Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man's part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house" (the Two Towers, Folio edition, page 40)
It's true he didn't write allegory, but he did expect that his works would be applicable to our world, as, indeed, they are. And -
Most fantasies do comment on right behavior and what it means to be a free, adult person. At least, those are the sorts of fantasies I'm used to reading. Terri-testing has a fascinating essay on her livejournal about fantasy and its role; her conclusion was that Rowling is not writing traditional fantasy at all, but rather horror. I am inclined to agree with her. Even if you don't agree that Rowling's real bent is towards horror, I think it's pretty clear that her magical World is parasitic and intellectually, imaginatively, and morally stunted, as are most of its inhabitants. It's not a good place. And what I was saying with this essay is that perhaps Rowling means us to see that the Magical World is not a good place, and that it tends to stunt its inhabitants in various ways.
More later, when I have the energy. Thanks for reading and commenting!