I hope you guys are having a great Summer! I can't believe it's half over already. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'm currently reading a book called Disenchanted by Janet Ursel. My review might be a little later than I had originally planned. Not being an ebook person myself, I bought a print copy and am waiting for that to arrive in order to continue the book. But while we're waiting, Janet has agreed to write a guest post for me about the genre in which her book is written: Christian Fantasy! Enjoy!
"Christian fantasy. The
term almost seems contradictory, doesn’t it? How does a religion that is all
about truth reconcile itself with something that is all about non-truth, about
what isn’t? It makes for an interesting dance sometimes. This is a little
ironic, seeing that fantasy as a genre was virtually invented by C.S. Lewis and
J.R.R. Tolkien, both committed Christians, and one of their prime literary
influences was George Macdonald, yet another committed Christian. Their goal
was to take eternal truths and wrap them in different packaging, in order that
people who would reject the normal package would find them more acceptable.
Controversy has raged ever since in Christian circles about whether that was
effective or even advisable.
"So Christian fantasy
as a genre has existed in a weird twilight zone, too Christian for the secular
market and too far from truth for many Christians. And yet writers of Christian
fantasy persist, most of them writing for teenagers, which has proven to be the
surest of markets. There are very few publishers of any description who are
willing to take on Christian fantasy for the adult market.
"Those few writing to
the adult market have often taken the same road as Tolkien and placed their
stories in worlds that are entirely fictitious, with the spiritual aspects
hidden beneath layers of metaphor, so that they go largely unperceived by most
readers. There aren’t very many people who think of The Lord of the Rings as Christian literature, for example, and
even devoted fans are often surprised to find out about Tolkien’s religious
convictions. And that is why the debate about effectiveness rages. If you’ve
wrapped those truths up so tight they’re no longer recognizable, in what sense
is the work really Christian? Add to that the fact that Christians are often
uncomfortable with magic being given positive connotations, and argue that the
elements taken from pagan mythology more or less overwhelm the Christian
content.
"Other writers take an
approach closer to Lewis’s and connect their fantasy world in some way to the
real world. There is still a layer of metaphor, but absolutely no one is
surprised that Aslan is Jesus. This has to be handled with a lot of dexterity
by the writer, or it could easily come across as too preachy. I personally
think that Lewis pushed it pretty well to the limits of the acceptable, and
some people think he went too far. I remember one of my English professors
complaining about that, even as she read the Narnia books to her children. They were entirely
too obvious and too Christian to her liking. I can’t think of anyone else who
has succeeded in the general market with such openly Christian content. But
then again, there aren’t many people who can write like Lewis.
"And then there are a
few others, like myself, who abandon metaphor altogether. Christianity
enters
the stories on its own terms for entirely what it is and the characters
have to
struggle with it on those terms. This frequently takes place in a
dystopic
future, which is perhaps better categorized as science fiction. Again,
there are some Christians who are uncomfortable with that, arguing that
they are inconsistent with Christian eschatology. Such writers have to
find innovative ways to connect the fantasy element to the real world,
through some form of urban fantasy or portal stories.
"Writers like me, who take a different road than Tolkien, run the risk of being
entirely rejected by the secular market. There are those, like Jeffrey
Overstreet, who say that our main problem as Christians has been inferior
quality, and that if we wrote to higher standards, the wider market would be
prepared to embrace us. I’ve taken that as a bit of a personal challenge. I did
my best to write at a level that can compete favorably in any market, and to
examine faith experientially as part of a story, not as a glorified sermon.
Faith, after all, is part of the human experience, and it seems to me that one
of the great failings of the secular market is usually leaving it out
altogether, which strikes me as being fundamentally dishonest, as dishonest as
so many Christian books that leave out or sanitize aspects of life they find
uncomfortable.
"So I am curious to see
if DISENCHANTED will find an audience beyond the explicitly Christian market. I
know there are many people who will reject it purely because of the Christian
content. It’s difficult for me to see that as anything but bigotry. I
personally have yet to refuse to read a novel because it was atheistic, or
Muslim, or whatever, so I am not inclined to be charitable toward that kind of
attitude. One of the great things about fiction is its ability to increase our
empathy, to help us understand other points of view. I am hoping that
DISENCHANTED will be good enough to delight those who are willing to look
through an unfamiliar window. (I will confess, I tried to make Christians look
through an unfamiliar window or two also. I’m ornery that way.)"
Janet Ursel
Thank you so much, Ms. Ursel -- I agree wholeheartedly with so many of your points. Too much Christian fiction seems written with the idea that if you just jam enough Jesus into the story, it doesn't matter if the story is well-written or not. Which is why for many years, I avoided Christian fiction. There seems to be more well-written stuff around these days, thank the Lord! I'm eager to read your book :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Hamlette. To tell the truth, I avoided it for years too. But I've been introduced to some better authors in recent years, so I am slowly and cautiously coming back. But I am admittedly picky.
Delete