by Paul Batkins
Home >> Fantasy: Escapism or Nonsense?
I have to confess that I myself am an avid Lord of The Rings fan. I just love reading stories about made-up lands and different heroic quests that the characters in the books undertake. Now, some people like science fiction—_Star Trek_ or Star Wars or whatever. Although these are not my cup of tea, I can empathise with those who do like them.
There’s nothing quite like losing yourself in a book with a cup of coffee and a chocolate napolitana, or on a train while all the (ugly) faces in the background just drift away into space.
And then you’re there, helping your favourite characters come to life, whether you are a spectator to a horrendous battle against The Dark Lord Sauron, Darth Vader, immersed in ancient history with a book by Ken Follett, or trying to solve a murder in an Agatha Christie murder mystery book. It’s just fantastic in my opinion.
I think we really need to get away from the humdrum of everyday life, especially with the stressful world we live in today. Even if you prefer to watch films (although that’s difficult to do on a train unless you have a portable DVD player), it’s still great to escape into a magical fantasy world.
Take Lewis Carroll, who was the author of Alice in Wonderland. Now in my opinion, that man was a genius. It’s true, the story was composed of complete nonsense, but it also went far beyond the children that the book was written for, and into the realms of politics—the walrus and the carpenter, etc. So Carroll had adults in mind as well.
As a matter of fact, when I was learning to teach English, in one of the tests we had to do we had to decide which figures of speech were used in the poem “Jabberwocky.� Imagine having to decide which nonsense words were nouns, adverbs, etc! Check it out yourselves by clicking on http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/
Sorry, I’m rambling on a bit. Getting back to this article’s main subject, you see a lot of people reading romantic novels on the train, just lost in a world of romance, or maybe they’re reading a whodunnit detective novel by Agatha Christie, trying to solve a murder on the Nile.
Whatever your pleasure, even if you like historical books, you’ll still be transported back to other eras and cultures and get lost in time, although maybe that isn’t as escapist as pure fantasy. What do you think?
So what’s your personal preference? Do you like fantasy, history, romance, detective novels, or films? Whichever way you look at it, you’re still escaping from the humdrum of everyday life.
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Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2007-02-08 11:00:00 +0100
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Hello Paul,
I also enjoy reading very much.
From the article I understand that some people read to allienate themselves from everyday life or maybe it is in everyday life when we are allienated , hmmm I don’t know.
Anyways, I enjoy reading essays, philosophy, poems and historical novels the most. It entertains me but it also helps me discover experiences that, otherwise, would be out of my reach.
One book I always like to re-read is “El Principito”.
Regards,
Cristina
Although I love the feeling of jumping into a novel and imagining that I’m playing a role in some romantic adventure, the truth is that lately I’ve only been reading non-fiction. Books like ‘Dangerous Creatures of Australia’ or ‘The Great Barrier Reef’ are lying on my nighttable right now. But on the 23rd of February I’ll buy some nice page-turners. There’ll be a monster book sale at the city library, where no books will cost more than 1.20 EUR.
Hi everybody!
I love fantastics novels, like Paul writes in his article, I read “Momo” (I like it a lot, I could imagine the greys men) “the hobbit” (I had a lot of adventures to obtain the only ring, but with the “Lord of the Rings” I have a problem, I am not able to finish to read it, last year I did a promise to myself to read all the book, occurs in the same time when you could see the trilogy on the TV, and when I saw the third film, the TV channel shaw the film during 4 o 5 hours and the end of the film was interminable for me and I was able to finish the book, I’m trying to forget the last film.
Really, when I travel every morning by train I can see a lot of people reading, romantic, fantastic novels, including the famous Harry Potter (for me, with these books, my mind can traslate with Harry Potter).
It’s a pity, children of nowadays haven’t taste for read.
Hello Paul,
The reason, routine or pleasure does not matter, the importan thing is to have every day a little bit to do those things that relax you.
I have always reading, now as I have a little time, I read every morning , Yes very early, before going to the work, in the night I’m too tired.
I like the historial novels, also the novels of intrigue and I love Ken Follet “Los Pilares de la Tierra”, now I’m reading “Eight” of Katherine Neville.
I believe that reading is to live another life”
Bye Paul.
Reyes.
I am not much into hard-core fantasy. Fantasy works for me when the story is not so much unreal as surreal. I have in mind a wondrous fairy tale that Tim Burton told in celluloid, namely Edward Scissorhands. I love the depiction of suburbia there: the dead color palette of the stucco bungalows, the town’s physical and cultural flatness, the deafening silence beside the muted, almost soundproof hum of automatic water sprinklers and lawn mowers, Dianne Wiest’s near-demented Avon Lady smile… And then, suddenly, Edward and his castle, a Gothic edge to a Brady Bunch world. That is, “medieva� juxtaposed with American suburbia, a magical mountain punctuating a flat, featureless, analgesic, numb urbanism. Not to mention the fabulous sixties-style housewives and the perfect music. And Johnny Depp.
Thank you for all your comments to my Weekly Letter.
Cristina.
I think it’s more a case of us alienating ouselves from everyday life than visa versa. I don’t think I’ve ever read “El Principito�. I assume it might be translated as “The Little Prince in English?�
I agree that you can always discover new experiences in books. Go for it Cristina!
Paola.
Hello Paola. How’s it going down under?
It’s a shame you haven’t started reading any novels, (but perfectly understandable I think) after all most people would escape into a fantasy world reading about the Great Barrier Reef or all the weird and wonderful creatures there are in Austalia,but you’ve got them on your doorstep!
Anyway as they say in Ausralia, I hope you have a bonza time down under in the land of Oz !
PS. Watch out for those red-backed spiders!
Mª Angeles.
That’s the spirit. Keep reading fantasy novels!
Don’t give up on the Lord of The Rings. I’ve read it four times and it only gets better.I also found the first time the hardest to get through the book.
I’ve also just finished reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini for the second time. Although I don’t think it’s as good as Tolkien and it copies many of Tolkien’s ideas.
I think the Lord of the Rings films are really good,but you can’t better the books. They miss out so much in the films. (Although they really had to,as there wouldn’t have been enough time otherwise).
I’ve never read “Momo� is this a Spanish adventure or English. Maybe I’ll look it up on the Internet. You’ve got me curious now!
I also cannot agree with you more about children nowadays. All they want to do is play with their play stations and fight horrendously violent battles on their consoles. It’s a shame parents don’t teach their children the joys of reading at an early age.
Reyes
I agree that it’s definitely important to relax and disconnect from work.
I myself never read on the train when I’m going to work. I’m one of those passengers who falls asleep as I don’t really get enough sleep, I prefer to sleep when I’m on any form of transport. (On the way to /from work anyway).
I prefer to read in the evening while having a coffee or late at night in bed and then I just unwind and drift away. Although,I can understand you feeling
too tired and not wanting to read. (However,I find that reading actually activates your mind when you feel tired!)
Wherever and whatever you read, it’s always a rewarding experience.
“Reading is living another life� . I like that..Beautifully put Reyes!
Gina.
I remember the film “Edward Scissorhands� ,but I’ve only ever seen it in Spanish. I saw it on a coach on the way to San Sebastian when I was visiting my girlfriend when I used to work in London.
As I said in the article Gina. It doesn’t really matter if it’s a real or surreal fantasy,the important thing is that it relaxes you,makes you happy and that you escape form everyday life. Unless you have hedges shaped like people and houses etc ( I can’t remember the film exactly ),flat landscapes and stucco bungalows where you live?
You didn’t actually say if you’d read the book.But if you did, was there a lot of difference between the book and the film?
I’m absolutely certain that with a film like� Edward Scissorhands� there would be.
There are only about five or six stories in the world and it’s fascinating how they are told and retold in so many different ways. Even in this postmodern age we still have a profound need for stories, just as our ancestors did thousands and thousands of years ago.
Hello Dónal. Thanks for your comment.
Well,I didn’t know there were only five or six types of stories, but I know you look into these sort of things so I’ll take your word for it.
I suppose then that they must all be a slant or variation on good versus evil and that sort of thing,and there must be thousands of slants and permutations of each genre.
Well in conclusion Dónal, I only hope that this profound need for stories and fiction will carry on even in our technological age and well into our offsprings’ futures too!
Hello Paul
I like very much the science fiction, the fantasy and the detective stories. They takes me to another worlds and help me to increase my imagination. Because when you I was reading the lord of the rings books, before the movie, I was triying to imagine the apparience of Frodo, or Sam or Aragon. I was triying to imagine, too, the differents lands of the story.
I think read books is a way to escape of the reality and the problems.
I think is a good therapy for relaxing ourselves.
Hi,
I love narrative novels such as Gabriel Garcia Márquez ones or Isabel Allende’s, which mix the most cruel reality with delirious fantasy.
As Reyes, I also enjoyed “The Pilars of the Earth” by ken Follet (in english!). There are two books sharing my night table nowadays: The Eight (also by Ken Follet) and The confederancy of Dunces by John kennedy Toole. I think I won’t be disappointed!