“What’s ‘Wrong’ With Epic Fantasy?”: Puzzled, But Also Curious…
Recently, SF Signal ran another of their fabulous Mind Melds, this one on the topic “What ‘Wrong’ With Epic Fantasy?”
The range of contributing opinion is well worth a look as always—but I must admit I couldn’t help wondering why this question is asked so consistently in relation to epic fantasy (since I know the reason da Signal asked it is because it is topical!) Yet my perception is that I rarely see posts that ponder: “What’s wrong with…” Fantasy (generally), say, or Steampunk, or Dark Fantasy, or even Paranormal Urban Fantasy…
Similarly, I rarely see crime fiction afficionadoes, again for example, worrying over “What’s wrong with…” the police procedural, the psychological thriller, the courtroom drama, the noir novel…
In both these cases, there seems to be a far greater acceptance that: Yup, it’s a genre/subgenre and as a reader I either like its tropes and what it offers in general, or simply vote with my feet and read another subgenre or style of fiction altogether. Generally though, readers don’t seem to spend a lot of time reading and analyzing what the genre does offer if it’s not to their taste.
So I guess I’m puzzled, but also curious as to why epic attracts such an intensity of scrutiny. (I will not say “naval-gazing”…Oops, just did! 😉 )
Is it because of its origins in epic literature (e.g. The Illiad, The Morte D’Arthur) that as readers we feel it should somehow offer “more” of “something”? Or is it simply that more people are passionately committed to this genre than any of the others mentioned and so it occasions more nit-pic—I mean, debate! Alternatively, maybe it’s that the genre is so closely associated with Tolkien, who was an Oxford professor, that followers feel it should achieve a higher literary standard, or conversely, that there must somehow be something inherently pretentious about the genre, that means it must be constantly examined and re-examined?
Questions, questions… My own view on the ‘wrongness’, or otherwise imho, was also canvassed on SF Signal, in a 2012 post titled “Making Epic Fantasy New: Do We Need To?”
I am still of the same view—but also wonder if genres may not be a little like plants: if we’re forever pulling them up and examining the roots to see if they growing ‘properly’, then they’re probably not going to develop, let alone evolve, terribly fast, if at all!
One of the reasons why SF Signal tackled that subject is because we got on the topic while on an SF Signal podcast. We got talking about Martin’s slowness and sort of took it from there.
Any subgenre could go “under the lens” the same way–it was just circumstance that led to this one.
Hey Paul: replying a little late–apologies–but I hope it came through that I think it’s absolutely legitimate for SF Signal to discuss what is topical (genre site, after all! 😉 ) — but the impression I get is both that this discussion occurs fairly frequently in interwebz land and that although other subgenres or genres could be put under a similar lens, generally they’re not. So like Alice I’m still both puzzled and curious in that respect.
Yeah, I think the honest answer to this is that it is too good and that is a problem. Because it is usually spread across several (and often MANY hence epic) very well written but also very spaced out books, and so we love each book intensely, and then we wait – intensely, often on tenterhooks because of some cliffhanger or other but certainly emotionally invested in the story – for upwards of years for each instalment. I think we are drawn to criticise it more than any other genre, because it tormented us first. 🙂
That’s as good a reason as any I’ve heard! 😀
Firstly, thanks for alerting people to a very interesting post. It took me a while to read everything and consider the comments made.
There is nothing wrong with epic fantasy imo. There is a lot of it out there, so someone, somewhere is going to be having a grumble about something. It really is find out what works for you, or weeding out what does not work for you.
I shop around when it comes to reading. I do go into book shops (that sell paper books) to check out new stock. I tend to avoid fat trilogies, mainly due to my reading speed and lack of time to read. I do favour stories set away from a European-type setting for the sake of variety. A visit to the public library does mitigate the financial risk of trying a new author. Free sample chapters can be very helpful too.
Thank you for your thoughtful response, June.