The idea is extremely general at the moment and I obviously need to get on with finding initial research and texts which will provoke a few questions that I could possibly entitle the essay with.. I've been reading The essay mentioned in the proposal, JRR tolkiens " On Fairy Stories" which i'm finding really interesting which is a relief!
The essay is in quite a simple format to follow, where he has created sub-categories within the category of discussing " Fairy Stories" which consist of
Fairy Story- What is a fairy story?
Origins
Children
Fantasy
Recovery, Escape,Consolation
The sections of Fantasy, Escape,Recovery and consilation were most interesting to me and are the sections I have been reading and re-reading in order to soak up all his words and try and make some sense of them! His old english talk is a challenge!
He covers alot of interesting points, and sometimes it feels as though he seems to be defending the "right" or "proper" distinctions or values of Fantasy and challenges other peoples notions of them, with his own. but at the same time its clear he isnt placing his ideas or opinions on top of others.
These are some of the quotes that I picked out either because I just like or because I want to look at a bit more.
“Art,the operative link between Imagination and the final result”
“venture to think the verbal distinction philologically inappropriate, and the analysis inaccurate. The mental power of image-making is one thing, or aspect; and it should appropriately be called Imagination. The perception of the image, the grasp of its implications, and the control, which are necessary to a successful expression, may vary in vividness and strength: but this is a difference of degree in Imagination, not a difference in Kind.”
"..Many people stupidly and even maliciously confound fantasy with Dreaming, in which there is no Art, and with mental disorders, in which there is not even control,with delusion or halucination" - I really like the way he aggresivly argues his own distinction between dreaming and fantasy, and it's true that people often merge the two into the same category, I know I do! His ideas of control and Art are intriguing.
“Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent.”
“Enchantment produces a Secondary World into which both designer and spectator can enter, to the satisfaction of their senses while they are inside; but in its purity it is artistic in desire and purpose.”
“Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult Reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of, scientific verity.”
" To many, Fantasy, this subcreative art which plays strange tricks with the world and all that is in it,has seemed suspect if not illegitamate.To some it has seemed at least a childish folly, a thing only for peoples or for persons in their youth"
illegitamate,lies?!
“Fantasy can, of course, be carried to excess. It can be ill done. It can be put to evil uses. It may even delude the minds out of which it came. But of what human thing in this fallen world is that not true? Men have conceived not only of elves, but they have imagined gods, and worshipped them, even worshipped those most deformed by their authors' own evil. But they have made false gods out of other materials: their notions, their banners, their monies; even their sciences and their social and economic theories have demanded human sacrifice.
Abusus non tollit usum. Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.”Gods-God-Religion " delude the minds" " imagined gods" " worshipped"- This is probably an extract that most interested me as i'm someone who has never understood the real origin of religion or reason for it being so significant.. It's quite a contraversial subject to bring up in this essay but of course, when I think about it, it's so obvious. People will disagree- but religion could definatly be seen as escape,fantasy and recovery to soothe their doubts of our world. It's actually really sad!
“But the true road of escape from such weariness is not to be found in the wilfully
awkward, clumsy, or misshapen, not in making all things dark or unremittingly violent; nor in the mixing of colours on through subtlety to drabness, and the fantastical complication of shapes to the point of silliness and on towards delirium”
“Though fairy-stories are of course by no means the only medium of Escape, they
are today one of the most obvious and (to some) outrageous forms of “escapist” literature; and it is thus reasonable to attach to a consideration of them some considerations of this term “escape” in criticism generally.”
"If men were ever in a state which they did not want to know or could not percieve truth (facts of evidence) then fantasy would languish until they were cured." - I like the connotations here that we are ignorant to our reality and to truth and seek other means to distract them or calm them, it sounds really intense but I think its something we all do subconsciouly every day.
" This recovery fairy stories help us to make, In that sense only a taste for them may make us, or keep us, childish"
" Recovery- Re-gaining a clear view, Seeing things as we are ( or were) meant to see them"
" I have claimed that escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since i do not dissaprove of them, it is a plain that i do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which escape is now so often used."
" Fairy stories may invent monsters that fly the air or dwell in the deep, but at least they do not try to escape from heaven or the sea"-references to religion again, promoting ideas of Heaven and Hell
"producing the desire to escape, not indeed from life,but from our present time and self made misery"
I think this was a good essay to start with, as i consider JRR tolkien a genius of fantasy although I think I need to be careful though not to get wrapped up in this essay and his ideas only, and think about ways that I can relate this idea to practical Art, or to Fashion more specifically, and how I can insert 3d artists (aswell as story writers) who use notions of fantasy in some form to express themselves.
Essay source: http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2004/fairystories-tolkien.pdf
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