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Originally Posted by Morthoron
Even Ms. Miéville's choice of ten fantasy/science fiction novels are mostly based on her leftist leanings. For her, the politics means more than the story itself. Again, to be ruled so by one's politics diminishes the ability to find truth and enjoyment from different sources.
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*cough**cough* I believe Miéville's a feller,
Morth.
But apart from that, yes. I think this
type of argument carries weight only if you agree with a certain view of the purpose of literature. If not, not.
Let's look at the whole article. Where does it appear? The
International Socialism Journal. What is Miéville's purpose here? To argue against the tendency of Marxist intellectuals to dismiss speculative fiction. How does he do this? By claiming that fantasy is in truth a genre of revolution, and that its main value lies in its critique of capitalism. This requires him to reject whatever doesn't fit this mold, which pretty much means all of "high fantasy":
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Originally Posted by China Miéville
Although an awful lot of books do fit that stereotype to various degrees, it's important to remember that you're not talking about fantasy in general here, but about a particular historical stream within it--a stream which has got massive since the 1960s.
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He then goes on to blame J.R.R. Tolkien explicitly for twisting the fantasy genre away from its higher purpose.
Now,
tumhalad, I'm sorry I was dismissive, but I honestly
can't find much in this article to "engage with". To me, the whole thing just looks like an expression of Miéville anxiety about not being taken seriously by other Marxists. That's perhaps a borderline
ad hominem, but there it is: it's just too hard to separate this particular argument from the person making it, and the circumstances under which it was made.