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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:09 pm
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My friends and I all go to book club at our school. I really like it, because I enjoy discussing books with other people who are as widely read as I am. There is only one problem. The teacher who runs book club flat out REFUSES to read a fantasy book. She is so...not flexible, even contemporary fiction, but not necessarily fantasy, gets shot down. Today were were deciding on our next book, and we fought hard to get a book we wanted, with little success. She and the grade 11 members of book club kept shooting down our ideas. When they suggested books such as "True Believer" "Shopaholic and Baby" and "Marie Antoinette" my friend said that she didn't like the type of books they were suggesting and found it hard to read them. The teacher replied with "Oh, that's right, you like to read books about DRAGONS! and SORCERERS!" and then she slapped the table and laughed at her, as if it was the funniest thing in the world, the grade 11s and librarian also laughing. My friend got uncomfortable and slightly embarassed. That...JERK made her feel nerdy and stupid, just because she would rather read a fantasy epic than a gushy, soap-operaish romance or a girly fluff book. My friend and I are thinking of starting a Fantasy/Sci-Fi club, because we are sick of getting excluded and ridiculed in the current one.
So, I ask you this, is fantasy less respected than other genres? Is fantasy looked upon as nerdy and lame, and are people who liked it looked upon as nerdy and lame?
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:36 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:40 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:57 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:00 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:39 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:27 am
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:04 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:31 pm
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NightIntent Well, my mom has declared, on several occasions, that the books I read are not "real books." She wants me to read classics, which I would read... except she told me they're real books and that's the only reason I should read them.
I wouldn't not read them on that account--you'll miss out on a lot of good stuff that way.
You can even get some fantasy in that way wink Charles Dickens & Oscar Wilde are among the "real" authors who wrote original literary fairy tales & fairy tale retellings.
Quote: You know what books I think aren't "real books?" Romance novels. Most of the ones I've read (and yes, I have read a good few of them) have a token plot and mainly revolve around sex between the main character and the main love interest. Sometimes multiple love interests. Not to say I haven't found some really good romance books--I have. But still, the majority of the romance books I read are dumb. Do people make fun of romance readers publicly? Not really.
Oh, I think romance is at least as denigrated as fantasy, possibly more so. I've less experience with that particular form of discrimination because I generally don't read romance, but... it's there.
To answer the main question: fantasy is often seen as "escapist" stuff that does not prepare people to face the "real world." So, to some, people who read fantasy are mental wimps, not ready to deal with the rigors of "reality." C. S. Lewis wrote a great essay on the topic.
That said, I think fantasy is becoming more acceptable now, thanks in part to the Lord of the Rings movies & Harry Potter. I have mixed feelings about the respective fandoms of both, though I also enjoy both the books in question & the movies based on them, but they have helped put fantasy more on the map. I've noticed that a lot of long out-of-print books are now coming back into print, which has made me very happy.
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:53 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:58 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 10:21 pm
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:12 pm
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:44 pm
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