We have far too much of this kind of article in our lives: the random and semi-plausible armchair ponderings of somebody whose only real qualification for public pontificating is that they are reasonably intelligent and articulate. We are surrounded by noise and get almost no signal.
It's not that I think that trying to understand developments in the arts and literature in their context is without any purpose or interest. Undoubtedly there are many factors that influence why particular genres become popular at particular times. And I'm sure I've written many blog posts along those lines down the years. But we've become too caught up in considering context, and as a result downplay the importance of quality and authorial voice too much.
Is it maybe the case that the fantasy genre became popular in the mid-20th century not because of the decline of epic poetry, the Cold War, the death of the age of reason, or any other particular social, political or economic factor - but simply because Tolkien wrote a great book and people liked it and wanted to imitate it?
And maybe the reason why they liked it was because it speaks to the human condition - that themes of heroism, of good triumphing over evil, of coming of age, of risk and adventure, happen to be things that people enjoy reading about in general?
I am much more interested in reading about why The Belgariad is good (an assertion that strikes me as at the very far side of what can fairly be called sane) than I am in learning about what it says about its context (and even less about what it says about the person reading it).
I think to support your point certain books persist over time; while shelves of different sections do seem to grow and shrink there are usually always copies of the same stalwarts stocked. Someone will always come in to buy Lord of the Rings, Dune, Discworld, etc. not because they are part of a 'wave' but because they are enjoyable reading.
ReplyDeleteIt could just be because they're famous. But obviously quality plays a big role in that!
DeleteMmm.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Hmmmmm.
Crash Test Dummies?
DeleteI glanced over this earlier today. It didn't stick in my mind. Looking back on it now, I see the suggestion that the images of Greek and Roman myth are now unfamiliar as 'cultural reference points for the educated class'. Which.....strikes me as strange indeed. For my own part, Greek myth wasn't taught for its own sake, but it certainly re-ocurred, even as a part of the Primary School curriculum.
ReplyDeleteAs for the observation that nobody reads The Pilgrim's Progress unless they have to, I can stand as at least one exception to that. Granted, I read it knowing it was a cultural reference point and wanting to grasp that, but it wasn't part of a list of set texts. There was a radio adaptation a few years ago that made it sound positively exciting.
As for why The Belgariad is good? Not sure I can answer that. But I read it often enough, and haven't found a reason to dispose of my copies yet.
(I find in an old copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys that it is recommended for readers of eleven and above; the authors do not describe the books but call 'each one a gem'. It appears in a list between Grimm's Fairy Tales and Household's Rogue Male; Tolkien, Rowling, Pratchett, Wells, Adams, Asimov, Lewis, Orwell, Gemmell and Orsan Scott Card also appear.
The highest reading age given is fifteen; Narnia is recommended to readers of twelve and above - which strikes me as odd, though these are intended as rough guides and not strict rules.)
I loved Pilgrim's Progress as a kid. I probably just read an abridged version but I wonder if Mary Harrington just thinks people don't read it because she wasn't brought up in church.
DeleteNarnia being for 12 year olds and above is bizarre. I would have said more like 8.
You know what? The Belgariad may be good. I just grew to hate David Eddings the more I read him as an early teenager. It's now far too long ago for me to really remember what the original series was like.
DeleteHah. You know, now I look at my comment, that's read in the past tense. Haven't cracked them open for a while.
DeleteI've heard at least one youngster respond to a reference to The Pilgrim's Progress, so I wouldn't say it's off the curriculum or cultural radar just yet.
It's weird that Narnia is set at roughly twelve - I mean, none of the Pevensies (working purely off memory) strike me as much over the age of twelve.
Haha. For a moment there I thought you were confessing to re-reading The Belgariad on an annual basis or something.
DeleteI think Peter might be meant to be 11 or 12ish at the start, but going by the rule that kids always like to read books about children slightly older than them, you'd have to assume a target audience of 8 or 9 max.
These articles are sort-of written for the uninitiated, and therefore not for me. When deciding how annoyed I should be, the test I tend to apply is, "Has this been written by someone who knows what they are talking about?"
ReplyDeleteThey don't need a PhD, just a legit interest. Far too many early 'what's the deal with GoT' columns were written by journos who thought they knew fantasy because they'd read Harry Potter and Twilight.
Based on this article and others I've read by Harrington, I reckon the author passes that test.
That said, I completely, completely agree that articles about why X book or author is good/bad are likely to be richer and more interesting than "here's some context about niche thing".
It's not that the context article can't be good, it's just that you almost do need a PhD to write one that has value for the initiate. You can't half-ass an well-researched and insightful piece about whole genres and eras of literature.
Yes, I agree. If you are a genuine expert then fine, but spare me the half-arsed speculation.
Delete"Rewind a few hundred years, and everyone writing in English sprinkled references to the Greek and Roman gods into their stories and poems, while the Homeric myths occupied a place in the Western imagination almost as central as the Bible. It’s difficult to imagine today but figures such as Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, Circe the sorceress and snake-headed Medusa were common cultural reference points for the educated class."
ReplyDeleteI smell a straw man, or at least some weird assumptions. These are all still "common cultural reference points for the educated class", to the extent there's such a thing as "the educated class". They're certainly about as central to our culture as The Bible (which almost nobody reads, at least not in "the educated class").
As for your point about good authors giving rise to trends: I'd say Rowling is the second part of that story. The Harry Potter novels were incredibly popular and lucrative when they were published in the late 90s (I think?), and they are probably single-handedly responsible for the explosion of children's and YA fantasy (much of which is consumed by adults) in the last 20-25 years. This trend in turn contributed significantly to the mainstreaming of fantasy and sci-fi. I agree with you that trying to derive the literary trends from social trends may get the causation wrong -- the literary trends flow instead from the success of particular books, which demonstrate the viability of a type of writing and publishing (and merchandising, and licensing, and ...).
Yeah, Rowling is clearly another example. Twilight too. There's no special contextual explanation for why those books were successful and why in the early 2000s people were ready for a series about a moody vampire. It's just that the books worked on their merits and people wanted to imitate them.
DeleteThat was a very fast response - that article must have only been on UnHerd a few hours when you posted! Yes, your point is better than hers.
ReplyDeleteUnHerd frequently annoys me, even though I should be its target audience. Too much of this sort of thing - glorified blog entries.
DeleteAgree, they could do with a bit of editorial control. Looking at it today there's a Spectator-level article by Douglas Murray above an incoherent piece of garbage about the radical left being extinct (like orphan Emperor Penguin chicks?!) by Bateman & Kyeyune. It shouldn't be that hard to sort wheat from chaff.
DeleteHaha, yeah, funnily enough I had exactly the same thought this morning about that emperor penguins piece. What utter drivel masquering as insight.
DeleteIt's all just part of the desire for a new mythology enshrining the values of the contemporary left. If only one could do away with all this dreadful white male european patriarchal stuff and replace it with good wholesome stories based on the obsessions of modern identity politics.
ReplyDeleteI don't know - Mary Harrington is a Tory. I think it's more to do with people being ashamed to admit that fantasy books could actually be good. Instead, they try to explain how on earth this trash can be popular.
DeleteNot really referring specifically to her, more to the general idea that fantasy can be the mythology of our time in that while it might look traditional on the surface, it really is shaped by more or less contemporary issues (as defined mostly by progressives) and therefore up for grabs for ambitious culture warriors & engineers of the soul.
DeleteThat even people who aren't actually on the left prefer to defend fantasy by drawing on what is really social science thinking says a lot about contemporary cultural values.
Yes, I agree with that.
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