Nepolean wrote:I don't understand one thing...what is wrong in writing escapist literature? Can anyone please explain?
I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, either. Therefore, Nepolean, I can offer no explanation!
Thanks, Moonraker, for responding.
Moth wrote:
There is nothing wrong with escapism. All literature is escapist to some extent or we wouldn't read it.
That's so true. I will never read books that are about ordinary people who deal with ordinary situations. We all need something extra and so we read EB's extraordinary books! And if we are going to read about real life stories it's going to be something like Anne Frank's Dairy (but I wouldn't call it delightfully escapist).
"When you are afraid to do a thing and yet you do it, then you are really brave," said Fatty. "You're a hero Ern."
Nepolean wrote:And if we are going to read about real life stories it's going to be something like Anne Frank's Dairy (but I wouldn't call it delightfully escapist).
What about The Colditz Story? Would that be an escapist book?
MJE wrote: If we were to extrapolate this to the ultimate degree and imagine the paradisal future that some religions envision (either in some afterlife or on a future, perfected earth)...
Now that is a wonderful thought. Imagine being able to choose the location of your afterlife. Peterswood, Kirrin Island, Craggy Tops, The Enchanted Wood... Now there's a religion worth following!
Try watching the movie "What Dreams May Come" - or, better, read the novel by Richard Matheson. That concept is part of it - explained much more clearly in the book than the movie. (The book was written a couple of decades before the movie, and is not a novelization of it *after* the movie.)
It is an actual part of the belief system of many mystical or New-Age or Theosophical systems that you literally create your own life in the hereafter or the interval been rebirths. This is not always done intentionally; but (according to these beliefs) we all do it, one way or another. I have serious problems with some of what the book and movie present, especially some of the more negative, dark stuff; but they are both fascinating and intriguing works.
Oh - and, as for the question of what is wrong with escapist literature: I don't think anyone here was suggesting there *was* anything wrong with it; so we probably all agree on that. But there certainly do seem to be people who frown on it to some degree, and I suppose that's what some posters have alluded to. Certainly in some of my comments I had in mind that some people do view it negatively.
My father once said to me many years ago, "If you spent more time living in this world and less time living on other planets, you'd be a lot better off" (referring to my reading of science-fiction). He may have been right; but it didn't address the issues which prompted me to read what he regarded as escapist books in the first place. But I suppose this illustrates the dichotomous views that exist on this matter: he was probably one of those people who do have a negative view of escapism, and it is probably no news to anyone here that I am on the opposite side of that, and I plead guilty to regular escapism myself. There's a great deal I don't like in the real world, so I don't want to spend more time living in it.
People who don't like escapist books must be workaholics. Maybe they would like to work on all seven days of a week. They don't need Saturdays and Sundays as they are escapist days.
"When you are afraid to do a thing and yet you do it, then you are really brave," said Fatty. "You're a hero Ern."
I read a quote today and immediately thought of this thread 'With a Georgette Heyer you don't buy a book, you buy a world. If it suits you, you are settle down forever.'
Just substitute name of your favourite author.
(Oh, it was quoted in Friends of the Chalet School magazine but didn't have the reference)
The books are escapism, but not in a negative sense. I'm in my twenties but I still enjoy reading the books of my childhood (Five, FFO, Adventure, SC, Ad.4 etc) and especially I tend to read them when I'm ill. If I'm feeling sick I can curl up with an Enid book and feel comforted by the idyllic nature settings, homely food, simple life... Also I live away from my country and I'm not too fond of where I live now, so the books also fight home sickness (even though I'm not British).