Fantasy as a Safe Space

Here's a WRITER'S DIGEST article in defense of fantasy literature:

A Safe Space for Readers

The author of the essay disagrees with the widespread assumption that fantasy exists "separate from the real world, far removed from the day-to-day experiences that real people encounter." Rather, she maintains "quite a lot of fantasy stories are constructed around real world issues" and use their "core components to build a safe space for readers to confront and process problems that they have to cope with in their day-to-day lives."

Two examples she offers are the Hero's Journey (relatable to struggles in our own lives) and the treatment of marginalized people and groups. She also suggests that fantasy, particularly the "cozy" subgenre, can give us a "break" from our personal stresses. In general, "Escaping into a fantasy story gives the reader a safe space to process their thoughts, their feelings, and their hopes and dreams."

While I largely agree with her observations about the value of fantasy, I do have one reservation. We could infer that she thinks its value lies mainly in its practical application to readers' lives. The importance of fantasy fiction for its own sake isn't discussed: It invites us to identify with and project ourselves into the minds and emotions of people and creatures radically unlike ourselves. As C. S. Lewis puts it in AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM, we see through a thousand eyes, yet without losing our own identity.

I'm reminded of Tolkien's classic essay "On Fairy-Stories," in which he names the vital functions of fairy tales, and therefore fantasy in general, as Recovery, Escape, and Consolation. He defines Recovery as "regaining of a clear view." The ultimate Consolation consists of the phenomenon he labels "eucatastrophe," the sudden turn, when all seems lost, from despair to joy. As for Escape, he famously says this about the charge of "escapism" often made against fiction not solidly grounded in mundane "real life":

"In what the misusers are fond of calling Real Life, Escape is evidently as a rule very practical, and may even be heroic. In real life it is difficult to blame it, unless it fails; in criticism it would seem to be the worse the better it succeeds. Evidently we are faced by a misuse of words, and also by a confusion of thought. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter."

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.