ESCAPIST LITERATURE
My husband and I have a running joke based on my slight obsession with romance novels–when he says “and the thunder roars and the heavens collide,” he’s teasing me about their “unrealistic,” highly-dramatic tone. Most of the time I laugh at his joke, but sometimes I get a little uncomfortable or annoyed. Why? Because part of me recognizes the “escapist” quality of my choice of fiction. Because the implication is that it’s not worthy and I should give it up. And because I don’t want to.
“Fantasizing,” “dreaming,” “escaping,” whatever you want to call it, is a survival mechanism for me. I don’t see how people get through life without it. As a criminal prosecutor, I know exactly how brutal the world can be, how people hurt each other, and how men (this is a site on heroes, remember, so I’m not bashing them) are often not the “heroes” we hope them to be.
Sometimes, however, the problem is balancing escapist tendencies with reality. Since I live so much of my life in a fictional world where 1) people are imperfect but always well-motivated; 2) love always triumphs over evil; and 3) the bad guy always loses, it can still be like a bath of ice water when I realize I’m helpless to craft such tidy results in my real life.
In the end, I truly can’t understand why the ideals presented in my romance novels aren’t things that EVERYONE wants. Who doesn’t want love? Who doesn’t want character growth, positive introspection and well-motivated actions? Do people realize that when they make fun of romance novels and romantic heroes, they are, on some level, condoning the dismissal of these ideals for things like weary indifference or random acts of violence or excuses to cheat, lie and hate? And all under the guise of “that’s just how the world is”?
No, thanks. I’ll survive reality because I have to, but I’m not giving up hope for better. We write about heroes because that’s who we aspire to marry. Who we want as our friends and our children. And because some days we hope to act a little heroic ourselves.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: How do you deal with the brutal transition between reality and fantasy? Are your rose-colored glasses an item you only wear for reading or do you manage to keep them on in real life?
April 2nd, 2008
Virna 
in
Virna's Columns |
Everyone loves a good hero, but what do readers, agents, editors, and writers love most? Join us as we delve under the covers and find out!
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
Working in law enforcement for 20 years, there isn’t much I haven’t seen or dealt with, although, I was in the jails. The last six years of my career I worked in the gang unit. The violence people put on each other, I just couldn’t believe. I’d escape into music, television, (avoiding cop shows) and of course books. I never told my partners what I read, which was some romance, and a lot of historicals. When you see the real ugly side of life, you have to have an escape. The average person hears it on news, reads it in the newspapers. Its at a distance. But to witness it, to talk to the people who have killed a love one for no other reason then, they didn’t like the dinner, or they wore the wrong color, it’s simply crazy. To keep intouch with sanity, one has to have an escape. Something that is pure fantasy, where the good guy does wear a white hat, wins the girl, and they ride off into the sunset to a happily ever after.
I’ve been retired for three years now, and the memories of the jails still haunt me. I still avoid cop shows, jump at loud sounds, and have nightmares. I still look forward to a good escape into a world where somehow everything really does turn out alright.
And in the jails, the inmates read. Their biggest request, romances. They need to escape too, fortunately most of them do it through a book. Just maybe one of these to good to be true heroes, will influence a criminal into believing, he could do better in his life.
Great post.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
I would love to live with my rose-colored glasses on permanently, but thanks to a cop husband and cop friends that isn’t always possible. But I refuse to believe things can’t get better. They probably won’t, but I will always dream and hope.
That’s what I believe about romance novels. For people with a good love they are affirmation that love comes true, to people with a bad relationship or no relationship they are the hope eternal of finding someone to share their lives with. Romance has something for everyone if they take the time to stop belittling romance novels and the writers they will discover what we already know, true love is possible, if no where else, in the pages of a romance book.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:38 am
Almost all of my romance reading at this point falls under the paranormal and suspense umbrella and often involves horrible things happening to the characters, so perhaps the transition between reality and fantasy is less of a shock for me in that regard. My reading might even be responsible for my rose-colored glasses in real life (to the extent that I have such a thing) because, hey, I can’t remember the last time I sold my soul to a deity who subsequently abused and manipulated me for a few thousand years (or whatever), so I must be doing all right. And, hey again, I’ve read about worse things than that ending with a happily ever after, so maybe there’s hope that whatever mundane little problem is plaguing me in real life will work out in the end.
Romance is a very hopeful genre—no matter how dark the story may get, there’s always an uplifting ending. No, that’s not usually how things work in real life, but wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all pushed a little harder for our own HEA instead of settling for being miserable because “that’s just the way things are”?
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
The definition of Literary Fiction should probably be: ‘fiction that’s based on how the world is’. This is such a great column, V, and so on target for identifying why we all need to escape reality. People who pooh-pooh romance fiction just get their escapism in other ways (action movies, sci-fi books, et al). If only they could recognize it for what it is, they wouldn’t be so quick to judge.
I love my romance, and I’m not afraid to admit it! We should create a t-shirt with that slogan!
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I guess I don’t think those ideals are like wearing rose colored glasses. I think the ideals can be real. I don’t think they’re ALWAYS real, and I don’t think every man displays those ideals. No, not by a long shot.
But I believe they’re possible. And I believe there are men out there with them.
My idea of a hero is very attainable. He doesn’t have to be a vampire, highland warrior, or sexy Marlboro Man type. My hero is a decent man, he loves his heroine passionately, he doesn’t run around at night, he comes home to her, he’s faithful, he doesn’t hit her, he doesn’t leave her, he raises his children, he’s a protector, he provides or at least contributes to the providing. A real man can achieve those things, and it’s VERY romantic. When a woman finds a man like that and he loves her back, the thunder DOES roar, and the heavens DO collide. I believe it!
I love romance. I want a t-shirt too!
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:06 am
Thanks everyone for your comments. It’s so nice to know there are so many other realists who still manage to stay romantics and cautiously optimistic. I’ll get started on those t-shirts!
April 5th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Most of the time, I read for entertainment. I especially enjoy books that can make me laugh. If I learn something from a fun book, then that’s a bonus. As for the real world, you can look left and right and find tons of good people who have the best of intentions. Then, five minutes watching the news, and your rose-colored glasses crack. I think it’s good to be aware of the bad stuff, as long as you can keep it in perspective. How many good things happen to every bad? Quite a lot.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Roger…
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