Friday 16 September 2016

A post-modernist approach to literature


The literary world is riddled with heroes and men and women with super powers.  My books are not based on such privileged people.  I prefer the integrated perspective for both adult and children’s books.
Would it not be science fantasy if ‘fairy-dust’ from a distant star were to magically settle down onto the earth and build structures that would save the world from starvation?  Yet if we replace the distant star with our sun, the fairy-dust with photons and the structures with plants, do we not already have this magic?
Would it not be a mystical experience to write our own story of life; to invent the characters we meet and to become super-hero’s in our own rite?  But how much do we really know about the people we meet and how much is invented by our own minds?  How much of our life is spent inside our minds; a world in which we have total control; a world in which we can become that sporting or political hero.
Beauty is another magical phenomenon.  We decide what is beautiful, but how often do we compare beauty or ugliness with nature?  ....as fresh as a summer morning.... a face like thunder....  Does not nature provide that which our own twilight lives can only gaze at in awe?
Reading a book or watching a film about super heroes is a great form of escapism.  Reading a book about real people in real situations has a much deeper impact and tends to leave the reader with more to think about.  In my children’s books, the main character might spend time as a fish (for example), but he will not be a fish with super powers.

There is far more beauty, mystery and magic in the world already, without the need to invent any more.  I write books that examine what we have, rather than things that could never be.

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