The word of the day for May 26, 2007 is "fantasy" — noun 1 obsolete : hallucination. 2: fancy; especially : the free play of creative imagination. 3: a creation of the imaginative faculty whether expressed or merely conceived: as a: a fanciful design or invention b: a chimerical or fantastic notion c: fantasia d: imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque characters—called also fantasy fiction. 4: caprice. 5: the power or process of creating especially unrealistic or improbable mental images in response to psychological need <an object of fantasy>; also : a mental image or a series of mental images (as a daydream) so created <sexual fantasies of adolescence>. 6: a coin usually not intended for circulation as currency and often issued by a dubious authority (as a government-in-exile).
We watched Pan's Labyrinth this afternoon. One can see why it won the Best Foreign Language Oscar. The cinematography fits the story, and the excellent acting is so well directed. Although the story did not have the scope of Lord of the Rings, it certainly weaves a spell on the viewer.
When my story, "An Equitable Division," was published in Marion Zimmer Bradley's FANTASY Magazine (Spring 1996), I lent my copy to my dentist's receptionist to read while the dentist was inspecting my teeth. She was pleased with the story and told me that it reminded her of Tolkien's writing. Not that there is much resemblance at all: my story was a retelling of King Lear set into an alternate world. Of course, the receptionist had never read any fantasy but Lord of the Rings, so I thanked her for her kind words and didn't explain that it was specious and fulsome praise.
The quote for today is from Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988):
To be matter of fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy — and dull fantasy at that, as the
real world is strange and wonderful.
;^) Jan
SURRENDER
10 years ago
No comments:
Post a Comment