Fantastic Appeal of Fantasy - article

[Mark Chadbourn]

I've been asked to provide a link to an article I wrote on fantasy for the UK national newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. You can find it here.

[Mihai, Dark Wolf]

Very good article, Mr. Chadbourn. Congrats.
I always wondered why fantasy genre is seen as a genre for kids or geeks. I think those who deny the value of fantasy deny the value of their dreams. Or they simply gave up their dreams? And denying the fantasy genre is like denying the mythology of every country and its people. Why they accept the mythology tales and the old stories and not fantasy and the new created stories?

[Carole McDonnell]

Great article. Was pondering though what you said about the irrational/the rational. Maybe it's me and how I understand the meaning of "rational." I often consider the world to be too rational yes. As in lacking in the acknolwedgment of "mystery" and not liking to honor the "unexplainable." Or in honoring the world's ways of "seeing" too much while disregarding the sixth sense or anything not pertaining to reason. In the world we say that X doesn't exist because none of the five senses can see it. But in the fae world and other fantastic realms we understand that other laws exist and affect the world in ways we don't understand. So there is something very irrational about this communal "accepted" world of ours because it demands that all "seeing" must be seen in the one accepted way: reason, etc. (Etc being all kinds of things like politics, political correctness, class, etc.) But every once in a while we in this common reality have to acknowledge that this world is quite irrational indeed. When we encounter extreme evil and perversity, or when we encounter madness or something weirdly supernatural. For the most part, the fantasy worlds we read and create accept the irrational. Especially the irrationality of the supernatural. Also, even the mad folks we meet there, and the evil folks, and the sick folk...well, there is a rational reason for them to be that way.

In fantasy, nothing is therefore irrational because the meaning, implication, consequences and causation of all things can ultimately been discovered and made understandable to the reader.

In the Ethical Imagination, Margaret Somerville talks about irrationality and rationality. She says (paraphrasing here) that the great thinkers of the world pride themselves on their ability to reason and their admiration of the rational....but they don't realize that of all the ways to find out and discover life, reason is probably the easiest way. The other ways of examining the world are much harder. But they don't want to admit that they have chosen to praise the world of rational reasoning because it is the easier path.

Ah, but this the poets and children and prophets have always known!

Great article. -C

[Mark Chadbourn]

Oh, I totally agree, Carole. In the article, I was using 'rational' in the form that emerged from the Age of Reason as our society's agreed consensus on the way the world should be defined. We view everything through the prism of science, but as you point out, that doesn't fulfil all the needs of the human condition. Hence, in an increasingly technological world, our desire for 'irrationality'.

[Carole McDonnell]

::big grin:: The old "two cultures separated by a common language" thingey. Over here, the word "irrational" is usually used to slam peri-menopausal women into silence. ::smile:: Brain not quite working this morning so I can't quite think of what we would use to describe the way of the fantastic. I suspect the rational folk around here would say "imaginative." Probably with a superior sneer.

But I get what you're saying. And I've gotta start reading things mindful of American definitions. It was a great article! -C

[Ruthanne Reid]

That article is wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing it.

[RobertB]

When over 50% of US citizens reject the thoroughly rational theory of evolution for an extremely selective reading of an ancient text which describes a flat earth, with the sun moon and stars peripheral to it, and a solid sky with large quantities of water on top of it, I wonder how 'rational' our modern world really is!

I am, incidentally, a Methodist preacher. I just don't happen to be a fundamentalist.

[Mark Chadbourn]

There's quite a big gulf between the US and Europe, on that front. Creationist beliefs are supported by very low numbers in Europe, and organised religion generally is in major decline.

However, I have been looking at other, non-religious indicators for a rational society. The number of hauntings reported to the Society for Psychical Research went from 200 a month ten years ago to zero now. The number of sightings of UFOs has also plummeted.

[Nick]

There's a really rather wonderful mass mind control conspiracy thriller in those statistics, Mark!

[RobertB]

That's true up to a point. Organised Christianity is declining in Britain, I'm not sure that other faiths are. Creationism is gaining ground, and while it's not a major influence, it's definitely out there. We may not indulge in some of the overtly religious irrationality of the States, but that doesn't mean whe're any more rational! I'm very distrustful of terms like 'rational' or 'responsible' or 'moderate', which so often tend to be applied to my culture, or those who support my interests, as opposed to those who don't. I remember back around 1990-91, for instance, South African black leaders who were prepared to compromise with apartheid were being noisily hailed as 'moderate' and 'responsible', as opposed to the ANC. Nothing moderate about apartheid!

[Mark Chadbourn]

As someone who's been involved in politics for a while, I'd certainly agree with your disdain for those words in that context. What I was trying to get at in the article was that there is a consensus in our society for a scientific, evidence-based view of the world, as opposed to the magical-thinking worldview of pre-Renaissance societies.

Our embrace of technology, and the thinking that goes with it, imo, is killing the ghosts! But the human experience needs the supernatural on some level, I feel - whether that is organised religion, or a sense of magic in life that is above and beyond what scientific thinking can ever offer. I'm using 'rational' as short-hand for that logical, evidence-based thinking; and 'irrational' as the urge to interract with what cannot be proven, may not even exist and for which there is no trustworthy evidence whatsoever; yet we still try to touch it, which, by scientific standards, is 'irrational'.

[James Johnson]

Brilliant article Mark - I couldn't agree more with your coments. It's hard enough writing for a nation that apparently doesn't read, let alone have the patience to decypher what sci-fi and fantasy is all about. Unfortunately information is recieved faster than ever which distracts many people from wanting to read in the first place.

Certainly doesn't put me off wanting to tell a good story though.

I look forward to reading more ponderings.

Rich (James Johnson)