The Progress of Fiction as Art

"In an anonymous essay titled 'The Progress of Fiction as an Art', which appeared in the Westminster Review in 1853, the author...argued that art, like technology, progresses from more primitive to more sophisticated forms, and 'a scientific and somewhat sceptical age has no longer the power of believing in the marvels which delighted our ruder ancestors." (Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn)

So, according to this, previous to the 18th century fiction with fantastical elements was realistic because people believed in the fantastic. Later it didn't work anymore because only 'rubes' and 'primitives' believed in the fantastic. This viewpoint still holds much credence today in Anglo-American literary fiction - the modernists.

I find this insistence that fiction reflect our view of reality very interesting.  Why is that so important?  Can't fantasy literature - literature that doesn't reflect our view of reality - still convey other kinds of truth - emotional, moral, human?  And what the heck's wrong with a little escapism anyway?

A Rose from Old Terra by Don Sakers

A Rose from Old Terra
Don Sakers
2007
Speed-of-C Productions
Series: Scattered Worlds
www.scatteredworlds.com

Source: ILL - Red Wing Public Library. I heard about it sometime during my online peregrinations.

Reason I got it: Librarians in Space. I'm a librarian by vocation and avocation, and I'm also a science fiction aficionado. Mix the two, and I'll for darn sure at least give it a try. From the dedication, it looks like the author is/was a librarian as well.

Thoughts:

This book worked for me. I'd recommend and will be looking for other books in the series.

It's multiple points of view were deftly handled, and the characters felt like real people, even when you didn't get much more than a glimpse of them. They had motivations and their emotional stories made sense.

Sakers made good use of the slow reveal for a number of underlying plot points, which made for a shift in perspective at points in the story.

I enjoyed his method of avoiding excessive exposition by inserting page long primary source documents - interviews, advertisements, government announcements, etc. to explain points outside of the narrative while adding flavor to the world building. I tend to enjoy these types of interjections; they appeal to the information junkie in me.

I almost thoroughly approved of his gender politics; practically speaking, there weren't any. Women and men were just people. I didn't see any gender assigned roles, and members of both genders had agency, took action based on personal motivations and ethics, and propelled the plot (and plotting!) forward. The "almost" comes in in one pivotal scene near the end of the book. Now, I don't necessarily disagree with the author's overall point in the scene or the emotional reality of the character's crisis. However, the author could have written the dialog more carefully so it didn't echo the age-old sexist dilemma of career vs. man, and almost always choosing the man, because they wouldn't be happy otherwise. I don't think that's really what's going on in this story, but the  phrase "It's you I want, not the Library" ripped me right out of the climactic moment and into sexism-fatigue.

The world-building was really good. The history and societies were intriguing, the technology simple enough to be mostly background and only rise to the top when needed for the plot, and the aliens interesting. Sakers' style made a fairly detailed universe seem everyday and simple, and yet complete

Fantasy Moods: Dark Fantasy

From my MLA 2012 Fantasy Presentation

Dark Fantasy –

·       Some will tell you that dark fantasy is fantasy and horror mixed together.  I don’t see it quite like that.  Too much of the dark stuff I’ve read doesn’t fit into that framework for me. 

·       Fantasy and Horror are on a continuum based on how stories are intended to make the reader feel.  Fantasy tends to be optimistic, horror pessimistic.  In fantasy the reader is pretty sure that things are going to turn out OK, regardless of the ups and downs of the story.  Even if a character has pretty much given up hope and is trudging on through sheer momentum, (think Frodo near the end of the ring quest) the reader, with her omniscient view, knows this is an event with an end and it will get better.  At the far end of Horror readers have no such assumptions.  Things look bleak because they are, and neither the characters or the readers have any real expectation that they’ll get better.  The monster will come back.  A character is irrevocably mad.  Dark fantasy rests somewhere on this continuum nearer the horror than the fantasy end, depending, of course, on the story and the author, but not giving up all hope that things will turn out as well as they can in the end. There is the hope of at least some redemption and healing.

·       Topics are no guarantee of dark.  Vampires, for instance.  I read a chapter on horror RA that classed Vampires as horror, period.  MaryJanice Davidson writes a series called Betsy the Vampire Queen that is about vampires with werewolves, ghosts, and zombies thrown in, but, while it has horrific moments and events, is anything but horror.  Betsy is a ditzy 30 something blond Minnesotan who dies in a car wreck and revives as the long foretold Queen of the Vampires.  She has no desire to fulfill this role, but if she has to, she’ll be a kinder, gentler Vampire Queen and drag the rest of the vampire world with her, kicking and screaming if necessary.  Again, full of humor, light reading, good outcomes, not horror by any stretch of the imagination.  This series was listed in this horror chapter because it has vampires. 

·       It can be hard to tell where dark fantasy leaves off and horror begins. My feeling is that a lot of it depends on where professional classifiers – publishers and catalogers – choose to put a particular title. Many authors write both, and win awards in both fields.

·       Another continuum in Dark Fantasy (and Horror) is the psychological. How much of the darkness is a result of fighting external monsters vs. internal?

·       Melusine by Sarah Monette is a really good example of more internal monsters than external. Of the two main characters, both were child victims of exploitation, and later assault. Both are stripped of the skills they’re proudest of and their chosen livelihoods, and both are forced to keep dealing with new, psychologically-scarring circumstances throughout the series.  Monette has a fascination with breaking her characters and seeing how they might heal and learn to live with the damage that won’t heal. They are dark.  And yet, there’s great beauty, too. She comes up with some breathtakingly lovely concepts that show that while there’s great dark, and it’s not an easy society to live in, there’s also great beauty if you know to look.  The dark is not all there is; there is hope. Monette is a fabulous writer, and her characterizations are amazing.  This is the first book in a long time that I got honestly angry over having to put down to go back to work after lunch.

·       A lot of it is much more external.  Great monsters to fight. Changing situations that are hard to handle.  Horrific situations. 

Fantasy Tropes: Steampunk

From my MLA 2012 Fantasy presentation

Steampunk

• Good example of a Science Fantasy trope: Feels like SF, has fantasy underpinnings.
• Magic and technology living side-by-side.
• Alternate version of the Victorian age.
• Premised on the concept of inventors in the late 19th century being able to use steam and their level of science to create all sorts of advanced technology – dirigibles for transoceanic flights, powerful clockwork computers, robots, etc.  What would that have done for the British Empire?  How would that technology have affected the Civil War?  What if the aether theory had been correct? How would that affect advanced science & technology, and everyday life?
• All steampunk includes implied magic in that in our world steam-level technology can’t do what steampunk has it doing. “The Iron Duke” by Meljean Brook, for instance, includes nanotechnology produced by the Horde and used to control Europeans in a steam culture. That’s just not possible.
• Might also include magic workers alongside mad (and not so mad) inventors. (The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow.  Main characters are a forensic sorceress and an expert at deduction working together in a wonderfully steampunk and magical society.)
• Often includes magical beings – vampires, werewolves, zombies. (Souless by Gail Carriger)
• Very popular right now.  
• As much of an aesthetic movement as a subgenre.  Lots of websites, costuming and crafting around steampunk mainly involving brass, gears, goggles and at least vaguely Victorian style clothing. Some of it is very clever.
• For an idea of the look a couple of steampunk movies - “Sherlock Holmes” (2009) and the 2008 Dr. Who Christmas Special “The Next Doctor.”  

Fantasy Tropes: Science Fantasy

From my MLA 2012 Fantasy presentation

Science Fantasy

·       Science fiction can be described as a subset of the fantastical, just with rationality, a.k.a. science. It too is filled with elements that are not part of our reality, like aliens and interstellar travel, although the balance ratio of improbability to impossibility certainly tilts much further towards improbability in science fiction than it does in fantasy. And for many elements are just a matter of time until they become reality. However the border between science fiction and fantasy is fuzzy enough to create difficulties with categorization. Science fantasy denotes stories in that gray area. where characteristics of both are present.

·       Sometimes it’s not a matter of what elements are used but how they are worked with.  The irrational, by its very nature is mysterious and ceases to be irrational when it is described in scientific or technological terms.  If a character can read minds, it might be magic if they cast a spell to do so, like in Harry Potter, but not magic if the author puts forth the premise that telepathy is caused by a part of the brain that most people can’t access, like in Anne McCaffrey’s Talents universe.  It’s becoming increasingly unreliable to try and define a genre by its elements or tropes, beyond a few basics.  It’s often much more revealing to examine how the author uses those elements and what effect she hopes to gain from them.  This is especially true with such closely intertwined genres as fantasy, science fiction, and horror. 

·       How important is it to categorize?  As long as it’s a good story, do we care? Maybe better to use specific story elements or a feel when doing RA. 

·       Darkover by Marion Zimmer Bradley

o      Uses a number of Fantasy themes – psi powers advanced to the point of working like magic.

o      However treated almost scientifically with natural laws, experiments, and repeated results.

o      Feudal societies – lords, serfs, castles, swords, etc.

o      Traditional gender roles.

o      Lost colony.

o      The wider galactic civilization comes more and more into play as the series timeline advances.

o      Depends on the book as to whether it reads more like SF or F.  Books about the society’s “lost” years are much more fantasy-like. 

o      I categorize it as SF because of the Lost Colony aspect and the incontrovertible evidence of it being part of a larger galactic community.  All of her “magic” is recognizable as some sort of science, even is some of it is (currently) considered pseudo-science.  However, if my first exposure was “Stormqueen” from the Ages of Chaos, I might very well go Fantasy.

·       Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

o      Dragons

o      Not very explicit in scientific explanations.

o      Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, & Mrs. Which read as witch-like

o      Travel to different planets.

o      Father is a scientist and they use science to travel.

o      I would label this SF because it has a high-tech feel. 

·       Warlock in Spite of Himself by Christopher Stasheff – first in the Wizard of Gramarye Series

o      Lost colony – you know this from the very beginning.  The main character – the “Wizard” is out searching for lost colonies.

o      All the magic is explained away as psi powers – which while pseudo-science is not entirely outside the realm of science, especially in SF.

·       Dragon Rises by Adrienne Martine-Barnes.

o      Strong Arthurian themes – main characters, including the POV characters, are incorporeal beings who keep being reincarnated to play the same roles again and again.  Including as Arthur, Gwenevere, and Lancelot. Fantasy.

o      However, the action is all SF.  Spaceships, space battles, different planets, alien species.  Science. Very techie.

o      The SF is all window-dressing for the drama being played out by the incorporeal beings.  And that window dressing has changed before and might very well change again.  

Fantasy Tropes: Arthurian

From my MLA 2012 Fantasy presentation

Arthurian

·       Based on the stories of King Arthur and the Holy Grail

·       A lot of fantasy readers go through an Arthurian phase and read everything they can get their hands on – fact and fantasy. I think it ties in to the medieval phase many readers also go through, and it’s the ultimate epic fantasy, really. And it might have been real! 

·       The main bit of source material is “Le Morte d’Arthur” compiled by Sir Thomas Malory, first printed in 1485.  Malory compiled his work from earlier French stories about Arthur (William the Conqueror was from Brittany, in modern day France – cross-cultural influences), and medieval English sources. Le Morte also includes “Tristan and Isolde” and the story of the Holy Grail (purportedly the cup that Christ drank from at the Last Supper.) There’s a lot of fantasy source material here.

·       Survived with such significance because it was the folklore of feudalism and the upper classes, proclaiming their literally god-given right to rule because they were high-born Christians, and reinforcing the rules of chivalry, which gave them a moral code and therefore moral authority. This was true long enough that it became firmly entrenched in the cultural fabric, and the story is malleable enough to take on new significance when warranted.

·       Very popular among fantasy writers and readers because:

·       in-built magic – Merlin, Grail.

·       the epic and mythic qualities of the stories – Once and Future King

·       the fact that it’s one of the basic British myths

·       Arthur promises to come back, which opens up all sorts of possibilities

·       There is also a whole field of study surrounding King Arthur. Did he really exist?  If so, what was his world like? What did he do? What are the sources of the legends? The supernatural bits? How does the Grail fit in? Lots of nonfiction scope here for interested readers.

·       Differences in Arthurian fantasies are roughly centered on:

·       place on the realism/fantasy scale (Firelord by Parke Godwin to Sword in the Stone by T.H. White)

·       who the story centers around (Hawk of May by Gillian Bradshaw – Gwalchmai, half brother of Mordred, son of Morgause (Morgan La Fay)

·       setting (Knight Life by Peter David)

·       A lot of fantasy novels have Arthurian themes and elements without being full-blown Arthurian romances/fantasies, including: 

·       Arthur or one of the other characters shows up

·       Includes the Grail

·       Includes a King who returns after millennia

Fantasy Tropes: Traditional Sources

From my MLA 2012 Fantasy presentation

Based Explicitly on Traditional Sources –

·       Myths, Fairy Tales, Gods, Legends, Epic poems, medieval, international.

·       An opportunity for the author to play with traditional sources and see what new significance she can get out of them.

·       Can be modern takes or very traditional (Hounded by Kevin Hearne)

·       Sometimes elaborated upon, extended or reworked with characters developed beyond stereotype or archetype and given human backgrounds and motivation. (Fire Rose - Mercedes Lackey)

·       Sometimes antagonist or minor character POV (The Rumplestiltskin Problem by Vivan Vande Velde)

·       Sometimes the traditional sources are used as jumping off points for an entirely new story. (American Gods by Neil Gaiman)

·       Reworked fairy tales sometimes referred to “fractured” or “cracked” fairy tales (Nursery Crimes series – Jasper Fforde)

·       For a title that includes many, many traditional sources from all over try Silverlock by John Myers Myers. The protagonist gets shipwrecked in The Commonwealth of Letters where he meets all sorts of mythological, historic, and literary creatures.  Quite extraordinary.