pondering

[bluegreen17]

i know there are a lot of folks who read a lot of scifi and/or fantasy...they seem very devoted to that genre,and seem to spend a lot of their time reading that stuff.

here's a question:
do people do that as an escape from life or do they do so to bring back something they've learned from it? or get inspiration from it?

i have an aesthetic appreciation of different arts...writing,movies,music...but i seek out the kind of things that inspire me or teach me something. if all i've done is kill time,i feel like i'm wasting my life. so i'm just curious as to other people's relationship to art and/or entertainment in life.

Comments

Sci-fi/fantasy

[duriyah.livejournal.com]

I read more sci-fi than fantasty. That being said, I'm about half-way through "The Return of the King" :)

For me there's an escapist element to all fiction reading that I do, period. It passes the time on my commute to work, during lunch, and relaxes me before I go to bed. But if I want pure escapism without any thought involved, I'll read a Tony Hillerman mystery.

What I like particularly about science fiction is the thought experiment aspect of it. The asking "what if"?

What would happen if someone accidently created a sentient, colonizing, microscopic life form? Or what would happen if humans created robots? How would we control them? Or what would happen if a spaceship from a distant planet contacted Earth?

The endless possibilities of speculative fiction are what interest me. It makes me think, keeps my mind alert. Like a puzzle or riddle, almost. It makes me think and wonder about life here and now, too. How far are we now from the future the author has proposed? And the exploration of those questions are why I like short science fiction, particularly. Short stories pack the biggest punch, to my mind, of pure speculation.

[digibri.livejournal.com]

I only read sci-fi occasionally any more, but when I do it is because I like the philosophies proposed. I am very keen on the speculative nature of the genre.

B.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I'd have a big long response to this if I were halfway awake. As it is, I'll leave this brief note: I read SF and fantasy for the same basic reason I read any kind of literature: To see through someone else's eyes for a while. Inhabiting any viewpoint other than my own helps me to understand my own a bit better. While one might think that a realistic novel will be better at teaching you something, that doesn't seem to be true for me--as genres, SF, fantasy, and satire are all more likely to help me break out of my own preconceived notions of the world.

Heh. I just realized--if I want escapist literature, I read self-help books.

[bluegreen17]

i loved your comment about self-help books! i have a tendency to spend more time reading self-help than actually helping myself. it's another form of procrastinating,methinks. not to say that some books really are helpful,but i do see this trait in myself.

[silverwraith.livejournal.com]

it is a form of escapism, I think, but that's not all. I draw artistic inspiration from it, yes.

fantasy is, for me, just another way to examine interpersonal relationships. it doesn't matter whether it's a relationship between a shapechanger and his wolf, or a sorceror and his apprentice, or a dragon and a wind-sprite. high fantasy at its finest (not cliched hack fantasy, I should say) speaks about the here and now by using anything OTHER than the here and now. I'm all for writers like James Joyce or DH Lawrence or Oscar Wilde (and I love all three of them), but people who claim fantasy is exclusively escapism have no idea what they're talking about. the same goes for sci-fi, although I'm admittedly less well-versed in that sub-genre. I can, however, point to someone like Douglas Adams as a keen observer of humanity who creates aliens and alien scenarios that are entirely impossible yet all too familiar...and that's what any good fiction writer does, whether in the realistic or the fantastic.

who wants to be realistic all the time, anyway?

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

In a science fiction or fantasy world readers will willingly accept ideas, cultures and differences that they might not in real life. I've read books of both genres all my life. In the last few years most of the books have been new. Much of what I see in "good" (obviously that is a subjective term), comments on current social and political values. As such it is extremely topical.

Like any other fiction story, a good SFic/SFan should have good writing, characters that excite our interst, a plotline with ideas that push our minds with "what if" and a resolution where we all learn and grow from the experience.

I hear some readers who are unhappy with the Elf / Unicorn / Hobbit say that they never want to read "that kind of fiction" again. It is true, if those characters are just fancy names for a bunch of teenagers roaming around getting into trouble, then there may not be much to like. But what if the Elf really represents a different very diffent culture, and the author does some very provocative things with the limits of understanding between nations, and creatively solves that problem while still maintaining an interesting main plot. What if the Hobbit struggles with addiction problems when his tobacco runs out? What impact does it have on the whole party? Does the party as a whole come up with a workable solution to the Hobbit's drug use - that you think would work in real life? Or do they ultimately throw him out of the party.

I recently read a book called "Devlin's Luck", a fantasy book with a main character who starts as a completely down and out man, who is postponing suicide because he is honor bound to support his brother's widow. He takes a job where the pay is fabulous, enough to support the widow for years, but his life expectency is about two weeks. To take it he must oath bind himself to do it to the best of his ability. So there is a book about depression, suicidal thoughts, the question of trust and friendship, politics, war, and leadership. And it is a good read. I recomend it. It is also a book with sorcerors, evil creatures, magical swords, and assorted other "fantasy" items.


Er, this might be a longer answer than you were looking for. Sorry I got carried away.

[bluegreen17]

hey,this is great! just the kind of thing i was wondering about. and you've definitely piqued my curiousity about that book. i'm gonna check it out. thanks!