Escapism

[Sarde]

Part of why I love reading Tolkien is that it takes me to another world. A world that is more beautiful, more exciting and altogether more enjoyable than the one we are in now. I often wish I could be part of that world, though it does not exist. Reading Tolkien to me is the supreme form of escapism. Some people seem to have something against this. How is it for you? Is escapism part of your enjoyment of Tolkien? Do you think escapism is a bad, or perhaps childish, thing?

[Niirewen]

I feel the same way you do, Sarde. No, to me escapism isn't a bad thing. I don't generally enjoy or even like my life, and when I'm given the opportunity to escape into another world (preferably Middle-earth) I take it gladly. And if it's childish, I don't care. I've always been a lover of escapism, whether I find it in a book or elsewhere. Escapism is most definately a part of my enjoyment of Tolkien.

[Lantarion]

I generally will not go for escapist literature, simply because often it is not 'stimulating' or interesting enough for me. But you are right; though Tolkien's writings are primarily philological, and secondarily mythological (IMHO), their thirdmost defining quality is without a doub escapism. :D
But I have not regarded Tolkien's works as escapist novels or works, but rather as studies or lyrical accounts/tales. Be as it may, I realize that they are invented; and this adds to my appeal for them on the one hand: to think that a single person can create such a continuous universe.. It heartens me greatly. And on the other hand, I never see that 'artificiality', if you want to call it that, while reading his works; I get so involved that I even begin to partially exist in that world in some detached, lucid dream-like way. If that isn't escapism I don't know what is. ;)
What I'm trying to say however is that escapism is not the main motive for my appeal for Tolkien's works. I don't know what I'd call it, and so I will give it no name. But one thing is for sure: Tolkien has inspired me, in writing and in ideology. And for that I am ever grateful.

[Snaga]

Most fiction can be described as an escape to some extent. Tolkien says something about there being a positive aspect to wanting to escape if you are imprisoned (not meaning that literally I think)... as opposed to wanting to run from reality. My take on that is that if you read something and it helps you through your life, because you reflect on it, and its meaning to you, then it is not something negative.:)

[Gandalf The Grey]

Here's the quote to which you're referring, Snaga:

I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which “Escape” is now so often used: a tone for which the uses of the word outside literary criticism give no warrant at all. In what the misusers are fond of calling Real Life, Escape is evidently as a rule very practical, and may even be heroic. ... Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls.

-- JRR Tolkien, from "On Fairy-Stories"

Thanks to you for jogging my memory of it, and to Sarde for starting this discussion. :)

[Rhiannon]

I agree that any fiction is to some extent an escape (varying, perhaps, on the reader), and for that matter that a good bit of non-fiction is as well. Why else to we read? To collect information, maybe, to better ourselves--but isn't the point still to rise above and beyond the world we're in?

For me, escapism has always been a huge part of why I read what I read. When I was eleven we moved (these things happen when you're a military brat), and for the next three years we lived 30 minutes away from anywhere, all kinds of horrible puberty-related things were happening to me, and I had absolutely no friends. In the literal sense of being a social outcast. I've always been a fantasy reader (these things happen when your dad read The Lord of the Rings to you when you were five), but for five straight years I read almost nothing but fantasy and started seriously avoiding people. It's only in the last year that I started reading more memoirs and biographies in addition to my occaisonal novel-but-mostly-fantasy diet.
So now I have a better balance. I still need to escape, but I don't rely on fantasy the way I did.

[Helcaraxë]

For me the defining feature of LotR and the Silmaillion is escapism. No one does it better than Tolkien because no-one makes it more real than Tolkien. You can map the origins of the Elvish languages just as you can English. You can live in ME, not just read it. ME is just as real as our world, which is why I can imagine it in such detail and grandeur.

~Helcaraxë

[Sarde]

Thanks for the nice answers. I asked because I have a teacher who very much dislikes Tolkien (and all other fantasy). Yes, he did try to read TLotR. He does not find Tolkien believable (now, I do not find THAT believable! :D). He calls the movies 'bombastic'. I think part of why he doesn't like Tolkien is because he's got something against escapism. I disagree with him of course, but he finds Tolkien childish and unrealistic. He hates anything that has something to do with magic. He says magic/fantasy gives the author easy solutions to all problems (if someone is sick, just get him a magic potion and he'll be well again etc.). For an assignment, I showed the scene at Amon Sûl to our class and he was totally annoyed by the 'This is beyond my skill to heal. He needs Elvish medicine'. He started talking about magic ointments and such. He totally doesn't understand! Then I tried explaining to him about the languages Tolkien invented and his answer was 'Anyone can do that!'. He apparently thinks that Tolkien just wrote down some lines that sounded strange and then pretended they actually meant something.

Ohhh what am I rambling about anyway? :D It's just that I normally hold this teacher's opinion in high regard (esp. concerning books as he is my teacher of literature!), so it bothers me that he thinks so lowly of what has recently become my favorite book!

[Rhiannon]

Many people regard fantasy literature as for children, something that people shouldn't bother with after a certain age, or that is a complete waste of time altogether. We shake our heads sadly at them and turn away, because for the most part they're hopeless.

[Greenwood]

Sarde,

You might try asking your teacher what he thinks of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night Dream" or "The Tempest" or Homer's "The Odyessy" or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude", to name a few.

[Nimawae's hope]

Excellent point Greenwood. If he knows and appreciates good literature then it is very likely that he enjoys these pieces. That is something I have seen in many people......It is a fault.

Anyway, I've always been a child of escapism. I had the most overactive imagination when I was little (still do). I didn't really read that much fantasy until I was in my teens (I hadn't really been introduced to it), but I read a lot of fiction and I always pretended I was somewhere else and someone else. That's escapism, but I see nothing wrong with it. Escapism is probably the reason I have survived for as long as I have. It helped me to find myself; anything that can do that cannot possible be all bad.

[Saermegil]

Hehe! I just wanted to brag cause my teacher absolutely loves Tolkien and he read all the works by J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien. He actually studied Celtic or Anglo-Saxon whatever that ancient language Tolkien studied because of Tolkien.

Anyway, as for escapism, I don't read any fantasy xept Tolkien, but Tolkien creates such a perfectly complete world that you have to be careful you don't get completely sucked in sometimes.

[Sarde]

I also don't read any other fantasy, because I simply don't like fantasy (at least not in books, I do love fantasy movies). But Tolkien is an entirely different story. His work is completely convincing and very enchanting.