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the 'tomes' have divorced these elements from their original contexts. Yes, the gods & demi-gods tome categorizes according to origin, but the entites are extracted from their stories.
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That's very true. It's only the 'lowest common denominator', however, when the DM is unwilling to be careful and meticulous in constructing his or her world.
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I think it is an error to distinguish too strongly between fantasy and science fiction.
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I disagree. Though certainly some science fiction (including C.S. Lewis's trilogy, as well as Star Wars) is basically fantasy in space, there is much of it that is fundamentally different. Most of Arthur C. Clarke's books, or Isaac Asimovs, are not in any way like the fantasy genre. Many of them revolve around scientific premises - that is, premises that are actually true. Many pieces of science fiction are, in fact, completely physically possible. Hard science fiction is supremely rational. Fantasy is not.
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What I am saying is that these things which are not necessarily art nevertheless make up the working categories with which the people who buy and sell and write and publish the banal fantasy happen to work.
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Agreed.
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but there was a shift in emphasis in roughly the middle of the 20th century away from 'essentials', toward 'self-realization'.
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If this was true at one time, I don't think it really applies any more. At least it hasn't been my experience. I had a very strong history curriculum in high school, as well as an English curriculum that covered masterpieces of both modern and ancient western culture. I am currently a freshman at Columbia and have studied Homer, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, the Bible, St. Augustine, Dante, Boccaccio, and others, as well as analyzing the moral and philosophical systems embodied in their works. Maybe what you're saying is true for some, but from what I've been exposed to of it, modern education is not an utter failure.
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Don't know about you, but I am personally disgusted with Britney's motives, or lack thereof.
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So am I. But I am
more disgusted with her "music".
[ April 07, 2002: Message edited by: Aiwendil ]