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[taelle]

I wonder why mysteries work so well as a way to see into some sphere unknown for us: mysteries about sudoku enthusiasts, funeral homes, cooks etc etc. My other favourite genre, fantasy, can kind of do it too - something like G.G. Kay's Sarantium books with all the trouble about mosaics; but it happens very rarely. Maybe the reason is that fantasies

Comments

[asakiyume]

Perhaps it's because mystery stories tend to be set in the real world, and so when they're showing us something (like life in Botswana or the ways of sudoku enthusiasts), they're showing us about something real? Whereas many fantasy stories are set in a made-up world that draws on elements of the real world, but maybe jumbled together. You might learn something about herbalism in a fantasy story, but it might draw on herb lore from all over the world--what you were saying about the global, maybe. The closer a fantasy story is to drawing on a particular place or time, the more I feel that it's likely to reveal something about that place or time, and yet I never trust the information entirely, because I always have the sense that the author may change details at a whim to suit his or her convenience. I suppose a mystery writer might do that too, but if the mystery story is set in the real world (even if it's in the past), then I feel the writer might have a greater sense of obligation to try to make details right.

[taelle]

Well, yes, but also... this could work the other way, I think - such themes in a fantasy book would make the world more real. I remember an otherwise mediocre fantasy where the author each time described the characters' dinner - mentioning what they chose and why. The dishes were made-up, but at the end I had a feeling about what they were and what the choices said about the characters.

[asakiyume]

Oh, I definitely agree with you that that level of verisimilitude makes the fantasy world more real.

[taelle]

I tried The Phantom of the Opera, it's one of the most popular ones, but not Les Mis, I think. And is Tanz der Vampire the one with 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'?

[taelle]

I can't remember whether I tried the whole of PotO, but some songs from there I liked a lot.