reality and escapism

[allthecoolnamesgone]

No: HPFGUIDX 177383


> It's interesting how H Potter can weave an escape that echoes our 
own
> world. I think it is all the more powerful because it uses emotions,
> interests and challenges from our own, and allow us to divide into 
them
> from new symbolic angles.
> 
> What do you guys think about escapism, reality and fantasy?
> 
> scarl26
>

It is hard to know where to start a reply to this as it could lead in 
so many directions. 

It could be argued that reading any fiction is 'escapist' as all 
books are set in a 'fictional' world even if it is 'our' world. I 
have just read 'Bleak House' which is set in the 'real' 19th Century 
but it is not the 'real' historical 19th Century as the characters 
did not actually exist. But by reading it I gain a greater 
understanding of that period as Dicken wrote out of his own life 
experience. I also gain insights into human nature due to the vivid 
characters he provides. 

Once we move into 'Fantasy' literature we have obviously moved 
further from our own 'reality'. Some people cannot understand how 
adults can like 'fantasy' as they perceive it as something one should 
outgrow. But I continue to find that books such as Harry Potter and 
Lord of the Rings have led me to think harder and in more depth about 
the 'real' world than most of the 'real world' fiction I have read.
It is probably something to do with the way 'fantasy' literature 
roots itself deep into myths and legends. The archetypes that are 
then used and reused seem almost hard-wired into the human psyche 
which is why so many of us respond to them.  Joseph Cooper's 
book 'The Hero with Thousand Faces' talks about what he call 'the 
Mono-myth and shows how numerous stories draw on the same structure, 
Harry Potter being one of the most recent.

I have found that one of the most rewarding aspects of Harry Potter 
has been the way it has sent me off in search of other literature and 
had me delving into Wikipedia for defintions of new words I have 
encountered. For example because of my researches into Snape's 
character I now know the meaning of 'Byronic Hero'. 

So to conclude, I love fantasy because it enriches my life here 
in 'reality'.