Comments on: Why we read imaginative fiction

By: Carol Berg

Carol Berg — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 06:52:50 +0000

Ofttimes people ask me why I stick with fantasy, as it is “such a small part of the market.” My simplest answer to the question is, “I can tell any human story and incorporate the matter of every genre–mystery, romance, history, etc.–in a world of my own devising. I love what I do.”

Carol

By: kateelliott

kateelliott — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 22:01:52 +0000

here should be a word - “maturismo”, like “machismo”? - for the anxious savagery of the intellectual who thinks his adulthood has been impugned.

My favorite line!

By: Betsy Dornbusch

Betsy Dornbusch — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 23:06:31 +0000

And fantasy is just plain fun . Thanks for the link.

By: John Johansen

John Johansen — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 01:24:02 +0000

Just another reason why LeGuin is one of my favorite authors.

By: Mark Tiedemann

Mark Tiedemann — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 20:35:57 +0000

â€œI never read fiction. Made up stories donâ€™t interest me. I only read things that are true.â€?

All this tells me is the speaker has no idea what Truth is. As with most folks we encounter, they have some notion that Fact and Truth are the same thing.

I occasionally wonder how they manage to get through religious services with this prejudice intact…

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:34:46 +0000

I believe people often link fantasy or speculative fiction in general as “escapist.” Just a way to avoid responsibility, bills, real relationships, etc. However, I believe some of the most stark, true and real emotions, philosophy, social awareness and the like come through the huge shift in perspective that a reader gets when they are brought into a fantasy world and are able to break away from the concrete reality they have built around themselves.

By: Mary Osmanski

Mary Osmanski — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 18:47:50 +0000

I think the ones that annoy me the most are the ones on airplanes, trains, and such who sneer, “I never read fiction. Made up stories don’t interest me. I only read things that are true.”

[Of course this begs the question of things such as how much media news reporting is "true," or how many tellings of incidents in a celebrity biography have been "adapted" to make them seem more flattering, amusing, or dramatic.]

By: Michael Martine

Michael Martine — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 01:40:00 +0000

To conflate fantasy with immaturity is a rather sizeable error.

Exactly. Thank you for posting this link.