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(Semi-)Literate Thoughts
Jan. 11th, 2006 10:44 pmI'm discovering that my unfortunate allergy to the study of Literature (and its criticism) hasn't gone away.
I'm conscious of the fact that I don't see symbolism unless it hits me over the head with a clue-by-four. Obvious symbolism, at least: I do a little better with allegory and metaphor, but not much. I don't really like symbolism, unless the symbol has (significant) meaning apart from or in addition to the thing it represents.
But I'm thinking: Literature does the same thing that science fiction and fantasy does: it explores the world of thought, society, possibility, and humanity, and occassionally challenges accepted conventions.
But it does it in less interesting ways. And more often, whilst it might play with challenging conventions, in the end the writer usually ends up reaffirming conventional modes of thought and being.
(Also, I find literature rather less than interested in the redemptive aspects of human existence, but more research is needed to support this thesis, and quite frankly there are other things I'd prefer to be doing.)
'Literature', then, does the same thing as science fiction and fantasy, but in a different (and perhaps more acceptable) way. Good SFF also explores thought, society, possibility, humanity. But it disguises its exploration of these things with Ooh, Shiny! and Explosions! and Weird New (or Old) Ideas, etc. It creates a world that isn't real, but in so doing, at its best it achieves a universal (un)reality in which to talk about the human condition.
All human stories, after all, have to do with other humans, and human things, thoughts and dreams. But with SFF, we can externalise the things we want to talk about, see them as both discrete parts and as a cohesive whole. We can talk about them in terms of humans, but also we can use allegory, myth, metaphor.
We can have philosophical questions disguised as a adventure story.
...And I'm sure I had a point in there somewhere. What was it again?
Oh yeah. I don't like having to read 'Literature', in whatever language. I want explosions with my angst! I want my existential doubt to come with FTL! I want Faeries with my amorality! I want magic with my gritty realism! I want more SFF!
(Amazon, hurry up and ship my order already, okay?)
I'm conscious of the fact that I don't see symbolism unless it hits me over the head with a clue-by-four. Obvious symbolism, at least: I do a little better with allegory and metaphor, but not much. I don't really like symbolism, unless the symbol has (significant) meaning apart from or in addition to the thing it represents.
But I'm thinking: Literature does the same thing that science fiction and fantasy does: it explores the world of thought, society, possibility, and humanity, and occassionally challenges accepted conventions.
But it does it in less interesting ways. And more often, whilst it might play with challenging conventions, in the end the writer usually ends up reaffirming conventional modes of thought and being.
(Also, I find literature rather less than interested in the redemptive aspects of human existence, but more research is needed to support this thesis, and quite frankly there are other things I'd prefer to be doing.)
'Literature', then, does the same thing as science fiction and fantasy, but in a different (and perhaps more acceptable) way. Good SFF also explores thought, society, possibility, humanity. But it disguises its exploration of these things with Ooh, Shiny! and Explosions! and Weird New (or Old) Ideas, etc. It creates a world that isn't real, but in so doing, at its best it achieves a universal (un)reality in which to talk about the human condition.
All human stories, after all, have to do with other humans, and human things, thoughts and dreams. But with SFF, we can externalise the things we want to talk about, see them as both discrete parts and as a cohesive whole. We can talk about them in terms of humans, but also we can use allegory, myth, metaphor.
We can have philosophical questions disguised as a adventure story.
...And I'm sure I had a point in there somewhere. What was it again?
Oh yeah. I don't like having to read 'Literature', in whatever language. I want explosions with my angst! I want my existential doubt to come with FTL! I want Faeries with my amorality! I want magic with my gritty realism! I want more SFF!
(Amazon, hurry up and ship my order already, okay?)
