Fantasy Fiction

by maa2843

Fantasy is an amazing thing with a history as long as the human race, for, as long as mankind has had the power to imagine, arguably what makes us human in the first place, we have possessed fantasy. The human mind, with its ability to generalize and abstract, can gaze upon on object and wonder “What if?” What if that boulder was unbreakable? What if there were people who were like us except prettier and with pointy ears? What if there are giant fire-breathing lizards that can fly? It does not take an exceptional mind to look upon something and wonder, “What if that were different?” This is why Fantasy has been a part of mankind’s culture for so long. But, if Fantasy is indeed something that is so ancient, why is it not taken more seriously? Why is it that it is generally thought of as a children’s genre and therefore not worthy of serious literary examination? This prejudice is so bad that authors won’t even admit their works are clearly fantasy fiction or if they do, they try to change the focus of the book away from fantasy. Terry Goodkind for example, whose first major work was called Wizard’s First Rule and who is the author of the Sword of Truth series, refuses to refer to himself as a fantasy author. Rather, he considers himself a “philosophical novelist.” This doesn’t just apply to fantasy writers either; science fiction receives the same stigma with noted authors such as Margaret Atwood and Kurt Vonnegut vehemently denying that some of their best works are science fiction despite the presence of aliens, time travel, rampant genetic engineering, and dystopian futures. And this ignominy doesn’t just extend to mainstream publications and thought; it is present, though admittedly to a lesser extent, in academia as well. Many collegiate creative fiction classes expressly deny the option to write anything other than literary fiction dismissing everything else because it is “genre fiction.” Why? Why is there a tendency for critics and authors to immediately dismiss or disdain works that cannot avoid the label of fantasy, regardless of relative quality or merit? As far as I can discern the main mode of thought seems to be that fantasy fiction inherently, that is by its very nature, cannot be good/deep/meaningful and as such should be relegated to the realm of children and teenagers. Of course, fantasy fiction is not just a genre for children, though like anything else it can be, and deserves to be treated just as maturely as any other style of writing when it is being critiqued.

First, let us deal with the erroneous idea that fantasy fiction is just for children. Where does this idea come from? It does not stem from the mainstream dismissal of fantasy; rather it is a symptom from the association between children and imagination. Imagination is the key element to fantasy fiction, it is what allows fantasy fiction to exist in the first place. Children, especially younger ones, are often thought of as having active imaginations. In fact, having an active imagination as a child is usually seen as a sign of healthy emotional growth and stability. However, just because fantasy fiction and children both have a strong connection to imagination does not mean that the two were meant for each other any more then there is a connection between children and milk. Children’s stories as a general rule of thumb are simple. This simpleness, a lack of any complicated literary structures or morality, is by design. Children have yet to develop the necessary cognitive ability to understand things like convoluted plots or black and grey morality. Because of this, regarding fantasy fiction as solely the domain of the young is not only wrong, it is toxic to the genre as a whole. In his famous lecture On Fairy Stories, Tolkien makes the comparison of fantasy fiction’s relegation to children’s stories to a playroom filled with old furniture. “Fairy-stories have in the modern lettered world been relegated to the ‘nursery,’ as shabby or old-fashioned furniture is relegated to the play-room, primarily because the adults do not want it, and do not mind if it is misused.” However I should note that this is not a slight on the children’s genre as a whole. The children’s genre serves its purpose by translating adult arts and tastes into something that children find palatable. This gives them a taste for whatever interests they may wish to pursue as they grow older. However when an entire style or art is devoted to children it will inevitably decay and become less then what it was. “Any of these things would, if left altogether in the nursery, become gravely impaired. So would a beautiful able, a good picture, or a useful machine be defaced or broken, if it were left long unregarded in a schoolroom. Fairy-stories banished in this way, cut off form a full adult art, would in the end be ruined…” For this reason fantasy fiction, or any form of art that we as a race wish to preserve, should not be left for children and their grubby little hands.

However, keeping fantasy fiction out of the purview of children is not the only problem. There is also the notion that fantasy fiction is somehow inferior to other more mainstream styles of writing. Of course, this is patently ridiculous. In the same way being white does not automatically make one a bad dancer neither does writing fantasy fiction automatically make for sub-par writing. Anything that can propel a more mainstream novel or story into the realm of serious academic scrutiny can also be present in fantasy fiction. If one is judging on the basis of the quality of writing there is Patrick Rothfuss’s The Kingkiller Chronicle, a book so tightly written I would compare it to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. What about maturity of theme and the ability to provoke thought in the reader? Well, there is George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, recently popularized by the HBO series A Game of Thrones, a tale of brewing civil war between five or more factions all partaking in their own share of morally ambiguous actions. What other criteria do stories need to be taken seriously amongst academics? Interesting subject matter? Relatability? The ability to touch readers? None of these things are beyond the grasp of well-written fantasy fiction. So to answer the question of why should fantasy fiction be examined more critically as well as taught more in schools I answer, Why not? There is no reason NOT to teach, examine, and dissect good fantasy fiction. In fact there are some things that fantasy fiction that other more mainstream novels cannot. Fantasy by its very nature takes the reader and places him or her in a world of the author’s construction. The reader experiences a world which follows consistent rules and laws, just not quite the same ones as our universe. This separation from the real world allows the reader to view our own world from a different prospective, one that is unattainable from standard novels set in more mundane locals. Tolkien calls this process “recovery.” Basically the reader recovers their indubitable assumptions about our world, which they laid aside when they applied their suspension of disbelief to the work, when they finish reading a fantasy novel. However, due to the different perspective, they might have reason change or challenge these recovered assumptions. This ability is one of the strengths of well-written fantasy fiction but by no means does it belong to fantasy fiction alone. Science fiction and horror fiction share this ability as well. These genres all fit under the umbrella of speculative fiction. However, I’m not arguing that all fantasy fiction should be taught or that it should be taught to the exclusion of all else. Just like any other genre there is good fantasy fiction and bad fantasy fiction. Obviously, the good fantasy fiction should join the echelons of books like On The Road, Huckleberry Finn, and Pride and Prejudice, whereas the corny, bad fantasy fiction should remain guilty pleasures of their readers.

Admittedly, there are disadvantages to fantasy fiction. Like I said previously, by its very nature, fantasy fiction requires time and space in order to set up the universe in which the story takes place. Sometimes this is easy, like in the case of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, where the difference between this world and the real world is very small. In this case there is a man who sports a pair of large feathery wings. Some would quibble over whether this counts as fantasy fiction and call it “Magical Realism” instead. The fact remains that the focus of the story is on the obviously supernatural man with wings thereby making it fantasy fiction. Anyways, more “serious” fantasy fiction, that is fantasy fiction that takes place in an alternate world, can take chapters and chapters to establish the rules of the alternate world the story takes place in. Because of this you don’t find many “serious” fantasy fiction short stories simply because the short stories turn into long ones. However, this lack of “serious” fantasy fiction short stories is not a serious problem, plenty of novels are taught and respected in academia even though short stories are more often discussed due to their poignancy and speedy reading.

Over the last decade or so there has been real improvement in society in terms of accepting fantasy fiction as a legitimate style. While the Fantasy genre has always had its own thriving subculture, only recently has it become something the mainstream takes interest in. The HBO smash-hit series Game of Thrones, based on the George R.R. Martin book of the same name, not only snared the interest of the public but also won 2 Emmys and was nominated for 11 more, despite what this New York Times Reviewer thought of it. (Her general dismissiveness is a perfect example of the snobby attitude that I’m complaining about.) Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings won 11 Academy awards in 2004 while The Harry Potter movies have become the highest-grossing series of all time. These smash-hits are opening the fantasy sub-culture to the mainstream and, as it becomes more accepted, the stigma of fantasy is slowly disappearing. Of course, popularity does not mean that something is good, but it is a strong indicator of what people are willing to read and hopefully as time marches on, my children won’t be ridiculed for reading “elf books” in their spare time like I was as a child.

Works Cited: Tolkien, J. R.R. On Fairy Stories. 1947. Print.

Works Consulted:
Barbieri, Richard WIZARDRY AT WORK: The Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling. ndependent School Summer2002, Vol. 61 Issue 4, p99
Barron, T.A. Truth and Dragons School Library Journal Jun2001, Vol. 47 Issue 6, p52