Fantasy

[Lalwendë]

It might be helpful to note that there may seem to be two kinds of fantasy going on. There's Fantasy the genre, and Fantasy the format.

In this idea, Tolkien writes, and heads up, Genre Fantasy. It is self-contained, it doesn't have any underlying 'message', and in a sense, it is far less restricted as it can be free to bend the boundaries of the genre.

On the other hand we have people like Pullman and Lewis who write/wrote Format Fantasy. This is where the form of fantasy is used in order to get across other messages.

I was interested to read an interview with Pullman in which he says this:

I realized early on in thinking about this book, when I found, to my consternation, that I was writing a fantasy. I hadn't expected ever to write a fantasy, because I am not a great fantasy fan. But I realized that I could use the apparatus of fantasy to say things that I thought were true. Which was exactly what, I then realized, Milton had been doing with Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost is not a story of people and some other people who've got wings. It's not one of those banal fantasies that just rely on somebody having magic and someone dropping a ring down a volcano. Paradise Lost is a great psychological novel that happens to be cast in the form of a fantasy, because the devils and the angels are, of course, embodiments of psychological states.

Then this had me thinking about how to some (Tolkien for example) the story is all there is and the story is King, but to others (Pullman and Lewis for example) there are many jumbled boundaries between Story and Idea. And you see it again in Magic Realism, where authors play with fantasy and fairy tale to create something different - in for example the case of Isabel Allende fantasy is used as a form of contrast and escape to the brutality of the Pincohet regime, likewise the same happens with Pan's Labyrinth, where Ofelia's 'dreams' are a retreat and ultimately save her brother from a wicked father.

Genre Fantasy of course assumes that we are willing to accept magic, other worlds, strange beasts etc. There are no half-measures. This is maybe why some simply find it 'evil', as right from the word Go it tempts us into thinking there are other ways of existing. However Format Fantasy may, on occasion, offer something more acceptable to those who find the notion of dragons, witches, spells etc disgusting, whether because their preacher says No or being a 'cool' Islington type. It's different because the dragons, witches or spells are there for a higher purpose.

Ultimately, it's the difference between Art and Utilitarianism.

Oh yes, that Pullman interview: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-rev...linkid=1071115

Lots of fascinating points about narrative structures, authorial viewpoints and the nature of Story. Though some might be disappointed to find that it's not all about religion. Pullman is not a one-trick pony