Why Fantasy?

Why Fantasy? | Richard Purtill | From the Introduction to Lord of the Elves and Eldils: Fantasy and Philosophy in C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

Those who enjoy reading and discussing Lewis and Tolkien often encounter an impatient, even irritated, reaction from friends or acquaintances. Why read fantasies or fairy stories? Aren't such things for children? Shouldn't grown-ups read about "real life"? (One literary critic called Tolkien's trilogy a "children's story which got out of hand".) A former student of Lewis, novelist and critic John Wain, once challenged Lewis' own praise and enjoyment of fantasy.

A writer's task, I maintained, was to lay bare the human heart, and this could not be done if he were continually taking refuge in the spinning of fanciful webs. Lewis retorted with a theory that, since the Creator had seen fit to build a universe and set it in motion, it was the duty of the human artist to create as lavishly as possible in his turn. The romancer, who invents a whole world, is worshipping God more effectively than the mere realist who analyses that which lies about him. Looking back across fourteen years, I can hardly believe that Lewis said anything so manifestly absurd as this, and perhaps I misunderstood him; but that, at any rate, is how my memory reports the incident. [1]

Here we have very neatly the whole basis of the conflict between Lewis and Tolkien on the one hand and many modern writers and critics on the other. Wain maintains, and many moderns would agree, that a writer's task is to "lay bare the human heart". Judged by this standard, practically nothing written by Tolkien and only a few things written by Lewis carry out "the writer's task". The theory attributed to Lewis, which is a recognizable caricature of the theory developed by Tolkien in his essay "On Fairy-Stories", is dismissed as "manifestly absurd". Before discussing who is more nearly right, let us first try to understand more thoroughly the theory proposed by Lewis to Wain.

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Comments

[Bryan]

So glad to see Dr. Purtill getting some mention on this wonderful blog. I'm proud to say that he is a member of my Parish!

[Mark Brumley]

Richard Purtill is a gem--an greatly underappreciated gem. We're glad to be bringing back into print some of his works.

I hope readers of Ignatius Insight will spread the word about Dr. Purtill.

[SDG]

To prefer pet theories of "the writer's task" to the actual practice and experience of what is valued by writers and readers is to fall into the perennial critical trap of preferring evaluation to understanding and description.

If writers are assiduously and passionately engaged in an activity that falls outside the scope of the theorist's vision of "the writer's task," and readers are assiduously and passionately engaged in devouring such work, perhaps it is time for a more adequate theory.

That said, while the dictum that the writer's task is to "lay bare the human heart" does seem overly narrow, it is also true that whatever moves us seems ipso facto to tell us about ourselves.

The intense joy that Faërie brings to many readers as well as to writers like Lewis and Tolkien seems itself a potent fact about the human heart. In writing about Faërie, then, Lewis and Tolkien are "laying bare" their own hearts, and speaking profoundly to their readers' hearts.

In a similar way, I frequently find stories about time travel deeply moving. To me, this speaks to a desire in the human heart for the transtemporal, of a desire to see time redeemed, the years consumed by the locusts restored. In other words, stories of time travel lay bare my heart.

[Laura P.]

I, for one, never thought that laying bare the human heart and spinning fanciful webs were mutually exclusive. Good fantasy can certainly give us great insights into the human heart. I think Tolkien does that, even though the most "bare" hearts in Lord of the Rings are hobbits'. Fairy tales, especially the originals (i.e. not the Disney versions), are also good windows into the human heart. The original Little Mermaid, for example, does a good job. I think that sometimes fantasy and other non-realist genres can give us a more lively, lifelike, and most of all, moving vision of the human condition than realist analysis. Who wants to read about reality, anyway? Too depressing.

[Brian Schuettler]

I purchased Lord of the Elves and Eldils over a year ago and treasure Purtill's gifts as a writer and as a mediator to other realms of writing. The appendices alone are worth the price.

[Sandra Miesel]

I, too, heartily recommend LORD OF ELVES & ELDILS.