That is, a position whereby readers are encouraged to think critically and reflect upon contemporary social ideologies identity, agency, the environment, social constructs, politics etc. A key element in escapist fiction is using techniques that encourage readers to enter into a new world whilst dually constructing a position of critical engagement. Escapist fiction seeks to engage readers in reflective and inquisitive processes encouraging readers to question and challenge their own cultural and social realities. Escapist fiction employs narrative strategies that engage and immerse readers whilst also distancing reader from their world and society. The secondary world, or fantastical one, is something that closely mirrors the primary one and would not be successful or satisfying if readers could not imagine it as realistic and relatable. These novels can provide readers with a moral compass or teach them lessons, they can be interpreted as a medium to represent and overcome an individual's personal fears, shortcomings, and, at times the need for this "escape". It can be argued that these novels, and similar novels, add to the understanding that escapist fiction is not a negative thing. Each of these novels allow the reader to essentially escape into a fantasy world that is not their own. Lewis, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, are examples of escapist fiction. The popular titles such as the Harry Potter series by written by J. Though fairy-stories are by no means the only medium of escape, they are one of the more obvious and (to some) outrageous forms of "escapist" literature. He admitted that fairy stories were something of an escape, he believed people should be provided an escape from the world of factories, machine guns and bombs. He wrote it to illustrate the meaning of his essay " On Fairy-Stories". He is the author of The Lord of the Rings, which is a classic example of escapist fiction. Tolkien, a linguistic scholar, is one of the essential figures in escapist fiction. It is because of this that some people may argue that most fiction and the act of reading itself, is a pursuit of escapism. The concept of individuals using different forms of medium, such as fiction, to "escape" from the limitations and dissatisfaction of everyday life is known as "escapist fiction". Genres that can include elements of escapist fiction include:Ĭharacteristics Escapist fiction novels Lewis's quotation, in his "On Science Fiction" of Tolkien's question of who would be most hostile to the idea of escape, and his answer: jailers. Tolkien does in his " On Fairy-Stories" and C. Those who defend works described as escapist either assert that they are not escapist-for example, that a science fiction novel's satiric aspects address real life-or defend the notion of "escape" as such, not "escapism"-as J. Labelling a work "escapist fiction" can be to minimise it. Fiction books and novels were an affordable and easy means for readers to escape into another world, so people used escapist fiction to provide them with a temporary psychological escape from the realities of their world. During the Great Depression, readers turned to escapist fiction as it provided them a mental escape from the bleakness of the economy during that period of time. Historically, the arts, and literature in particular, have been acknowledged for its ability to distract readers from the hardships of reality. Escapist literature aims to give readers imaginative entertainment rather than to address contemporary issues and provoke serious and critical thoughts. It encompasses a number of different genres within it any fiction that immerses the reader into a world different from their own is fundamentally escapist fiction. Escapist fiction is often contrasted with realism, which confronts the reader with the harsh reality of war, disease, family dysfunction, crime, foreclosure, death, etc. The genre facilitates mentalisation that is, escapist fiction encourages psychological engagement from the reader. Typically, an author of escapist fiction offers structure, rationality and resolution to real world problems throughout their medium. ![]() This "new world" aims to compensate for the arbitrariness and the unpredictability of the real one. Escapist fiction is fiction that provides escapism by immersing readers in a "new world" created by the author.
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