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Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
The story writer in me, I s'pose. Except that the signs are already there in terms of the waning of Western culture as opposed to African or Asian ones.
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I'm not sure its possible to define 'western culture' precisely enough to be able to say its waning. Certainly its
changing, but its as likely as not to be changing in a 'western' way into another phase of 'western' culture. Change is inevitable in any case, & to be welcomed if only because the alternative is stagnation. Besides, if 'Western Culture' does disappear it will be because it wasn't going anywhere, & couldn't adapt.
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Originally Posted by Bb
So, part of this development of fantasy was concurrent with the rediscovery--perhaps it can even be said, discovery--of pre-Christian culture on the British Isles--the recognition of so very many regional dialects, the recovery--yes, that is the better word, recovery--of pagan legends, stories, myths. Perhaps this is why Tolkien so strongly wished to present his Legendarium as a history--part of the zeitgeist of his times, at least pre-WWI.
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I still think its significant that at the same time as we see this rise in the popularity of fantasy as a genre we see the rise in interest in 'practical' occultism, with its focus on the 'Hidden Masters' in the Himalayas (via Madame Blavatsky & the Theosophists) & Ancient Egypt (The Golden Dawn/Aleister Crowley). We saw the same thing in the Renaissance, with the romances (so effectively attacked by Cervantes) of Ariosto, Boiardo, Spenser, et al, appearing at the same time as the rise of Hermeticism & Alchemy. As Lalwende mentioned the sixties also saw a resurgence in interest in both fantasy literature (principally Tolkien) & in both Western (Tarot, Crowley, Witchcraft) & Eastern (who remembers the Beatle's & the Maharishi?) 'occultism'. And currently we have both a fascination with fantastical fiction & movies alongside the rise of 'New Age' movements - Wicca, Druidism, meditation.
In short, this connection between interest in fantastical fiction seems to go hand in hand with an interest in the 'occult'. I suppose it could be argued that they arise from the same place in the human psyche, the former attempting to create secondary worlds, the latter attempting to change the primary world into something more 'magical'. Both seem to be inspired by a reaction to an overly materialistic weltanschaaung. Back to Nietzsche, with his Dionysian/Apollonian dichotomy, perhaps...