Literature entertains and then instructs. Fantasy and adventure novels usually concentrate on entertainment, helping to fix the attention of young readers so that instruction can follow. In some instances they do not go far beyond entertainment and that is what limits their literary merit. However, there are some examples of the genre which succeed in entertaining in a way that contains valuable instruction.
Coleridge drew a very famous distinction between fancy and imagination. Fancy was about things that were extraordinary but could not bring about any real suspension of disbelief in intelligent people. Imagination was that fiction which intelligent people could believe to be true if they suspended their disbelief temporarily.
Suspension of disbelief is an important aspect of adult literary experience. In order to be instructed people must be able to imagine that stories could be true and experience vicariously the great events that may never happen in real life. This intellectual dimension might be nurtured through the experience of fantasy and adventure novels when young.
JRR Tolkein was an intellectual who did much to establish fantasy as a literary genre. He created long and well told tales that drew on ancient English texts like Beowulf and developed symbolic themes in interesting ways. The intellectual aspects of his stories can obscure the fact that these tales were designed for the author's grandchildren and not intended for adults, interesting though they are.
Adventure stories are about action and narrow escapes. As a person's literary taste matures they may seem tiresome and banal but when he was younger and less experienced the stories could have seemed exciting to an uncritical mind. Though their attraction may wane they serve the valuable purpose of engendering a taste for reading in young minds.
Once the reading habit has been established a young adult may graduate easily to texts that are more informative and intellectually challenging. Fantasy and adventure novels have important roles to play especially in the formative years.
Coleridge drew a very famous distinction between fancy and imagination. Fancy was about things that were extraordinary but could not bring about any real suspension of disbelief in intelligent people. Imagination was that fiction which intelligent people could believe to be true if they suspended their disbelief temporarily.
Suspension of disbelief is an important aspect of adult literary experience. In order to be instructed people must be able to imagine that stories could be true and experience vicariously the great events that may never happen in real life. This intellectual dimension might be nurtured through the experience of fantasy and adventure novels when young.
JRR Tolkein was an intellectual who did much to establish fantasy as a literary genre. He created long and well told tales that drew on ancient English texts like Beowulf and developed symbolic themes in interesting ways. The intellectual aspects of his stories can obscure the fact that these tales were designed for the author's grandchildren and not intended for adults, interesting though they are.
Adventure stories are about action and narrow escapes. As a person's literary taste matures they may seem tiresome and banal but when he was younger and less experienced the stories could have seemed exciting to an uncritical mind. Though their attraction may wane they serve the valuable purpose of engendering a taste for reading in young minds.
Once the reading habit has been established a young adult may graduate easily to texts that are more informative and intellectually challenging. Fantasy and adventure novels have important roles to play especially in the formative years.
About the Author:
If you're in the market for a new fantasy and adventure novel, get ready for Victoria Foyt's soon-to-be-released novel, "Revealing Eden", the first installment of her new young adult series. Set in a freshly-imagined universe where higher social ranking is directly tied to more melanin in the skin, the light-skinned 'pearls' are placed on a strict mating schedule.
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