Much More Than Escapism

So, I took a creative writing course this summer. It was one of two courses I needed to take in order to satisfy the six remaining credits I needed for my degree. I found the course to be helpful and very flexible and being that it was conducted online, yielded little room for egos to run rampant, something that typically plagues writer's workshops. However, I happened to be skimming the professor's syllabus one day and came upon a disclaimer:

"Make sure to avoid sensationalism: murder/mysteries, car accidents, sci-fi, alien abductions, or mistaken identities. Save this kind of writing for the producers of television programs and movies. You are learning to write literature."

I wasn't necessarily surprised, just disheartened. Academics and artsy hyper-neo-post modernist writers seem to suffer this long standing superiority complex aimed at anything they consider to be "GENRE FICTION"; i.e., Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Suspense, Romance and so on. I've heard stories from people enrolled in in BFA and MFA programs for creative writing wherein their professors, "highly accredited, published writers", actively steer their young hopefuls away from any such projects, condemning the very idea. As an avid reader and writer of fantasy, science fiction and horror who is actively searching for an MFA program to improve my writing ability i find this disconcerting to say the least.

I had a conversation with my best friend a few months back in which I was basically selling the idea that enrolling into an MFA program was the next logical step for me. "It's functional", I said, "I'll be FORCED to get all my ideas out and organized; I'll be gaining a deeper understanding of the craft, and discover my own style and voice; I'll be surrounded by open minded writers who will make me better..." I think this was the last straw for him. He'd been sitting across from me in the diner booth sipping an empty coffee for my whole spiel.

"Don't be surprised", was all he said.

He went on to liken any process of becoming, of realizing one's purpose, one's art and one's creative drivers to be like fashioning themselves out of clay. "Don't be surprised when they all try to knock your hands away, reach in, and mold you the way they want you to be", was what he said, and I tried to defend a few programs in a few cool cities but in the end I knew he was right. As a musician and song writer who had been enrolled in a few different music programs the past couple of years, he had already experienced this, the voices telling him that he needed to change, that he could never sing properly, the classical musicians condemning the indie, blues infused rock music he had been synthesizing, the self proclaimed "poets" who continuously criticized his lyrics for being, well, lyrics and not imagist poetry. I'd had a poetry professor who essentially echoed my friend's warning when he spoke of the pitfalls of work shopping a peer's material: "Try as we might not to, in the end we all naturally want to make someone else's work just like ours."

What good would it serve for me to pay untold amounts of money for a program that forbade me from writing the way I want to? From discovering my own voice? From indulging my imagination, and piecing together the characters and settings that whirl around in my head all day long like fiery meteors through the night sky? Aren't writers supposed to write about what they know and what they love?

I think academics who cling to the "canon" fail to see the merit in science fiction and dismiss it as escapist literature. But authors such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut remind us that behind a work of enthralling, page-turning imagination there are concepts rooted firmly in reality, metaphors that connect allegorically to and endure beyond the present day. Doomed reliance upon technology, ethical use of military might and scientific exploration, political upheaval, drug use, societal growth and over population, information exchange and privacy are only a few concepts that drove the work of the previously mentioned writers. Very often science fiction, and even it's more flighty and whimsical, however still as enjoyable younger sibling, Science Fantasy, ask the question of where we are headed, and if it's a particularly good place.

One can't deny the historical and philosophical subtexts found in most prominent works of the Fantasy genre. Using science fantasy as an example, George Lucas' timeless Star Wars saga deals with philosophies and warrior cultures from the far east, through the order of the Jedi. Replace a light saber with a katana, and The Force with chi, or possibly the concept of the Tao, and you have a philosophy closely mirroring that of Zen-Buddhism.

Beyond the philosophical and historical, the level of scholarship that men like J.R.R Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, and many others employ in their work is astounding to say the least. They all possess a very deep knowledge of mythology, folklore, religion, language, and literary traditions that they draw upon to create their heroes and villains, their landscapes and worlds, and their customs and ways.

Writers like Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Clive Barker show through their works of horror that the monsters they write about are in reality, us. Mary Shelly's Dr. Frankenstein shuns morality and ethics in his research, and creates a perversion of science. The Wolfman and The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Invisible Man all deal with the duality of man and our tendencies toward the violent and the perverse.

I can go on forever with these. Lucky for you all, I'll stop right there.

As far as the mechanics of a good novel, novella or short story, these authors deliver on almost every level. The quality of narrative, complexity of style, experimental forms, depth of character, detail in setting, and smoothness and whit of dialogue are all, dare I say, fantastic. Neil Gaiman blows me away with his ability to play with form, and development of silly, hypnotic, dark, amoral, or mysterious characters and the distinct voices attached to them.

It would be a service to academia if the work of these authors were included in the so called canon, or were at the very least included in a syllabus and lesson plan by some young open minded professor. As far as stuffy fine arts programs go, works of "Genre Fiction" are more than just technically sound, they are perfect examples of "literature", just more enjoyable to actually read. It is short sighted and ignorant to suggest that these authors are sub-par, escapist, pulp writers because their imaginations brought them to the alluring worlds of fantasy, science fiction and horror.