Fantasies

I'd been wondering whether I had anything more to add on this subject than the little thoughts I was able to give the last time we discussed this. It occurred to me, though, that you are in very much the same situation as a boylover as I am as a writer. There is a strong thread of anti-fiction sentiment throughout the history of Christianity, probably inherited from Neo-Platonism - I think especially of Augustine's criticisms of the theater. In the Seventh-Day Adventist community I grew up in, it was considered sinful to read novels, watch television, or watch films (unless the above were in some way "Christian"). The reasoning behind this was quite similar to the reasoning behind prohibitions of sexual fantasy - that by fantasizing about evil activities, you are committing evil in your heart. I think that C. S. Lewis made the most effective refutation of this attitude (though his direct topic was a defence of fantasy literature). He said that these critics had not made a clear enough distinction between types of fantasy. One type, he says, makes us want to be whoever is doing the evil action - we want to be selfish millionaires or bedhoppers or whatever. But the other type of fantasy is a sublimation, a way of exorcising evil impulses through living them. (Aristotle, incidentally, would agree with him - he said much the same.) This is a really vital question to me, because if it always sinful to imagine sexual scenarios that it would be wrong to act out, it must also be sinful for me to create stories in which I view the world through the eyes of villains or semi-villains. It must also be sinful for anyone to read my stories. Yet if my stories bear any resemblance to the stories that I have enjoyed reading through the years, I think that the exact opposite is true - by seeing the world through the perspective of fictional characters both good and bad, I have a clearer notion in my mind of how I should and shouldn't lead my life. I don't know where such a distinction lies in the realm of sexual fantasies - this is not an area where I feel myself to be at all well educated. But I'm sure that such a distinction must exist, because the parallels between sexual fantasies and literary fantasies are so clear. So I would echo what GCFboi2 says (far more eloquently than I have): That you should pay attention to the fruits of your actions. I've found this to be an excellent testing method in my own literary life, when trying to decide whether a story I'm creating in my head is a piece of literature or trash daydreaming. Heather [E-mail]   [Home Page]