Comments on: Fantasy genre misunderstood: Janny Wurts

By: Guy Gavriel Kay mocks Booker judge’s ‘idiocy’

Guy Gavriel Kay mocks Booker judge’s ‘idiocy’ — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:06:12 +0000

[...] fantasy author Janny Wurts recently argued in a podcast that the fantasy genre was chronically marginalised by its immature image by book critics and readers, a theme she expanded on in a recent interview [...]

By: Master of Light and Shadow: Janny Wurts interview

Master of Light and Shadow: Janny Wurts interview — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:36:54 +0000

[...] a recent podcast interview, you argued that the fantasy genre was marginalised by its image, an opinion that several other writers have also recently expressed, as well as about the [...]

By: J M Cornwell

J M Cornwell — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:09:27 +0000

J. R. R. Tolkien’s work is definitely fantasy, but who has read his books and thrilled to the movies based on his novels would class them as infantile or for young or immature people has merely skimmed the surface. That is the problem with labels, people tend to get stuck with them and have no idea what they mean. No wonder artists and writers prefer to be called graphic novelists instead of writers of comic books. Until readers stop accepting labels and simply jump into literature with no regard for genre, willing to accept books and authors on a book by book basis, we will be stuck with labels. Haven’t we grown past this yet?

By: Is Atwood’s The Year of the Flood science fiction?

Is Atwood’s The Year of the Flood science fiction? — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:27:04 +0000

[...] and misunderstood genre. It’s a problem that also extends to the world of fantasy literature, as Janny Wurts has recently complained. Comments [0]Digg [...]

By: Are fantasy books mainstream or not?

Are fantasy books mainstream or not? — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:23:30 +0000

[...] a recent podcast, fellow fantasy author Janny Wurts argued that the fantasy genre is chronically marginalised by its immature image by book critics and readers [...]

By: Marc Vun Kannon

Marc Vun Kannon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:22:36 +0000

Fantasy is one of the best literary media for examining some of the great philosophical and psychological concepts of the world. Good and Evil can be real things, monsters can escape the dreams they were formed in, alternative points of view can be presented as they are, would be, could be, actually lived. LOTR is a fantasy novel, yes, but it’s also a comparison of the values of two competing ways of life, as represented by the Shire and by Saruman, among others. We all know where the monster came from in Forbidden Planet. How many science fiction stories bog down in sermons about the importance of reason over emotion? Even Rand and Goodkind are trying to do something meaningful, whatever one may think of their philosophies.

The main reason fantasy gets associated with childhood is that it’s a literary form most readily understood by children, with more vivid imagery than a textbook, and less subtlety. Which doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. But the ability to combine thoughtfulness, insight, and imagery in this way is rare. Most of the icons have been made already. Making new ones is hard work, while the old ones rapidly degenerate into caricature, broad brush strokes suitable for comic books and little else.