The Function of Fantasy Literature
Here's an excerpt from an ancient interview with me, which must have been recently re-posted on Fantasy Worlds. Much good commentary there, including this classic bit:
DL: What do you think is the important function of Fantasy literature?
VN: I think fantasy literature is the one true literature of hope and imagination.
Now, some writers whom I respect very much, like China Miéville and some others of the New Weird, consider the true role of fantasy to be not Tolkienesque consolation but subversion -- a kind of rebellion from complacency. Yes, I can see what is meant here. And I also see the need to change, to fix, to drastically improve the human lot.
However, I see no profound progress taking place when there is no hope, no inspiration, only drastic overthrow and rebellion. Before having a revolution of thought there must be real ideals to aspire to, and they are only to be found within.
These ideals are not new, bright, shiny things but old, hoary, deeply ancient things. This goes back to my pet notion that we already have all that we need, merely are oblivious to it. Fantasy plunders the well of our deepest selves for existent truth instead of creating new truths out of the illusory fabric of recent events or the flow of society.
Fantasy is not the literature of subversion of the status quo but of awakening to the status quo.
The difference is in the attitude, in the subtle delicacy of approach.
And consolation has been wrongly reviled. Consolation is not apathy or inaction. It is not closing one's eyes to the evils of the world. Rather, consolation is the first step in regaining personal equilibrium and strength, which necessarily precedes the ability to act.
Thus, true long-term change is brought about not by destructive passion of the moment but by well-reasoned constructive action. Violent shock of Armageddon that leaves nothing in its wake but a blank slate is not a solution, only a postponement of progress. We don't need fantasy to mess with our minds to the point of rendering us insane -- real life horrors do that already.
What we need in fantasy is the sudden balm of clarity -- a temporary reprieve from life's white noise and clamor of pain, a kind of time-out. Such clarity, a new perspective, is made possible by fantastic metaphor.
Clad in metaphor, the world becomes newborn to our senses, like a phoenix. It is the most effective fresh presentation of the elements of our life for our jaded, numbed, even ailing sense of imagination.
Why? Because without such a reprieve we cannot pause and regroup and with the newfound strength go on to initiate that very change which is sorely needed by all.
Fantasy, at its best, is balm for the soul. But it is faulty logic to assume that balm is necessarily mind-numbing anesthesia. True balm takes away the painful irritation of life and simply heals, allowing one to begin anew. And that is what fantasy can do for us.
Read the rest of the interview here...
DL: What do you think is the important function of Fantasy literature?
VN: I think fantasy literature is the one true literature of hope and imagination.
Now, some writers whom I respect very much, like China Miéville and some others of the New Weird, consider the true role of fantasy to be not Tolkienesque consolation but subversion -- a kind of rebellion from complacency. Yes, I can see what is meant here. And I also see the need to change, to fix, to drastically improve the human lot.
However, I see no profound progress taking place when there is no hope, no inspiration, only drastic overthrow and rebellion. Before having a revolution of thought there must be real ideals to aspire to, and they are only to be found within.
These ideals are not new, bright, shiny things but old, hoary, deeply ancient things. This goes back to my pet notion that we already have all that we need, merely are oblivious to it. Fantasy plunders the well of our deepest selves for existent truth instead of creating new truths out of the illusory fabric of recent events or the flow of society.
Fantasy is not the literature of subversion of the status quo but of awakening to the status quo.
The difference is in the attitude, in the subtle delicacy of approach.
And consolation has been wrongly reviled. Consolation is not apathy or inaction. It is not closing one's eyes to the evils of the world. Rather, consolation is the first step in regaining personal equilibrium and strength, which necessarily precedes the ability to act.
Thus, true long-term change is brought about not by destructive passion of the moment but by well-reasoned constructive action. Violent shock of Armageddon that leaves nothing in its wake but a blank slate is not a solution, only a postponement of progress. We don't need fantasy to mess with our minds to the point of rendering us insane -- real life horrors do that already.
What we need in fantasy is the sudden balm of clarity -- a temporary reprieve from life's white noise and clamor of pain, a kind of time-out. Such clarity, a new perspective, is made possible by fantastic metaphor.
Clad in metaphor, the world becomes newborn to our senses, like a phoenix. It is the most effective fresh presentation of the elements of our life for our jaded, numbed, even ailing sense of imagination.
Why? Because without such a reprieve we cannot pause and regroup and with the newfound strength go on to initiate that very change which is sorely needed by all.
Fantasy, at its best, is balm for the soul. But it is faulty logic to assume that balm is necessarily mind-numbing anesthesia. True balm takes away the painful irritation of life and simply heals, allowing one to begin anew. And that is what fantasy can do for us.
Read the rest of the interview here...