Comments on: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien Are Not ‘Real’ Artists?

By: clh

clh — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:15:53 +0000

Art isn’t art unless it represents reality? That doesn’t make any sense at all. If he wanted to say that anything that didn’t represent reality had no value, it would have been idiotic but at least it wouldn’t have been entirely nonsensical. He doesn’t seem to know the definition of the word “art”. I like the way wikipedia puts it “Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions.” How is what J.R.R. Tolkien did not that?

By: clh

clh — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:15:36 +0000

Art isn’t art unless it repesents reality? That doesn’t make any sense at all. If he wanted to say that anything that didn’t represent reality had no value, it would have been idiotic but at least it wouldn’t have been entirely nonsensical. He doesn’t seem to know the definition of the word “art”. I like the way wikipedia puts it “Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions.” How is what J.R.R. Tolkien did not that?

By: Tolkiens Werk keine Kunst? - Tolkiens-Welt.de - Infos zum Hobbit Film, Der Herr der Ringe Verfilmung und Tolkien

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:52:24 +0000

[...] einfach nicht mögen. Schockierend, oder?”. Dies ist die Antwort von Daniel Crandall auf The American Culture auf einen Artikel des amerikanische Medienkritikers James Bowman zum Thema Fantasy und Kunst. Dieser [...]

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:14:04 +0000

Thank you for your post Paul, that pretty much sums everything up.

By: S. T. Karnick

S. T. Karnick — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:02:17 +0000

Paul, I think you make an excellent point here, and your last sentence goes to the heart of the matter. One can easily reject Avatar and other works without rejecting all fantasy fiction.

By: paul hughes

paul hughes — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:43:23 +0000

The more art seeks to be realistic the more fantastic it becomes. Writers of fantasy are more in tune with the nature of what they are doing than writers of realistic literature, in that they recognize the ultimate inability of a writer to understand much less mirror reality and the hollowness of any literary claim to “know reality.” When Tolstoy says all happy families are alike, he is creating, not describing any reality. When Dickens says it is both the best and the worst of times, he was saying something inherently fantastic, and not describing any possible “reality.” Avatar sucks, not because it departs from any mimetic tradition, and not because it is unrealistic, but because it is unimaginative.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:44:38 +0000

D.W.

It is people like you who make it worth while for me to post:)

Tristram,

Being a fan or avid reader of fantasy has nothing to do with as you so crudely put it “Playing Dungeons and Dragons or memorizing our Vulcan.” Which its Klingon anyways that your thinking about:) We are simply defending fantasy as a viable medium.

By: D. W. Skinner

D. W. Skinner — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:01:56 +0000

Daniel, in defense of James Bowman, didn’t someone (maybe Oscar Wilde?) say “life imitates art” as a conscious inversion of an older notion that art imitates life? Admittedly things get a bit confused by the late 19th and 20th centuries but if one surveys painting, sculpture and literature before that time he will find it does imitate reality, won’t he? Even Bosch believed in the reality behind his paintings, the most famous of which depicted scenes from real places like Paradise and Hell.

By: Tristram Shandy

Tristram Shandy — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:38:10 +0000

Shouldn’t you guys be playing Dungeons & Dragons, or memorizing Vulcan vocabulary words?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:57:48 +0000

To quote Tory
“He did say that the modern derivations of Tolkein and Lewis are dreadful crap because they do not connect with our emotions or beliefs in the same way as great past works of fantasy have done.”
This is not fact but opinion. While I myself thought Avatar was “Dances with Wolves” with blue aliens this is not the opinion of all.
Where my problem with Mr. Bowman lie are that for one item to be art it must eb belivable or I must believe in in it. And just quite frankly that is an opinion not fact. As well since Mr. Bowman mainly deals with movies I will use this as an example to compare “The Lord of the Rings” movies with the books is quite unfair. Simple because the full books are not translated to the cinema. But anyways I enjoy fantasy as it is an escape. I dont have to worry about a light bill or if its raining or whatever have you for just a few minutes of my time while I am involved in said fantasy. The same could be said for fiction, drama, comedy or whatever other thing or being you are dealing with. So lets continue the arguement, your turn.