Some of us who read fantasy feel guilty about it. Ridiculous as that may sound, it is true. I don't mean the kind of guilt that arises from spending too much time reading fantasy and not enough time doing homework or building relationships. That can stem from reading too much of any kind of book, and is a healthy guilt that should be encouraged. What I want to talk about is another kind of guilt, a guilt for one's taste for fantasy. It was more prevalent in C. S. Lewis's time, I think, than our own; people didn't dare to admit that they read "fairy stories". Such stories were seen as childish and escapist, and Mr. Lewis wrote several essays defending them against such charges. Even now, some people feel a little uncomfortable with themselves, or their friends, for "escaping" into the fantasy world instead of reading hard, realistic books or books of information.
To those people, and to any who read fantasy, I say, go to it! Sure, realistic books are good, too, and books of information are incredibly useful, but there is something in fantasy that you can't get in almost any other way. (Why I say "almost," you'll find out in a minute.) The thrill of fantasy consists in being caught up in something bigger than yourself, bigger even than the world. It's becoming part of the great plan of history, or the "Great Story," as Sam Gamgee calls it in The Two Towers. Every fantasy character experiences this, for good or for evil. Luke Skywalker in Star Wars is caught up in the rebellion and The Force. The hobbits in The Lord of the Rings are caught up in the powerful magic of the Ring and of Wizards. In The Dark is Rising, Will Stanton gets caught up in the power of Dark and the power of Light. Their readers get caught up in all of this for a little while. They feel the power and the danger right along with their heroes, with the difference that the readers have to come back to the humdrum reality of life. This is what makes fantasy readers guilty. They feel, or have been schooled to feel, that they have no right to "escape" life by hiding in a fantasy world. I, however, would put it the other way around. Burying oneself in "real" life is an attempt to escape the Great Story.
For there really is a Great Story. God is its Author. If you are His child, and if you have surrendered yourself completely to Him, then you have been caught up in His Great Story. He wrote a part especially for you.
Thus, the thrill and wonder of fantasy can be experienced in real life, with God. He created that sense of longing to be part of the Great Story, which motivates fantasy readers like me, in order that we may seek Him and find Him. Like every good author, He does nothing by accident. Everything that happens to you is to bring you into and through your part of God's Great Story.
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